LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 


BY 

JOSEPH  FO1 

Author  9* 


8581  HI  njooviiJ 


CEDAR  RAPIDS 
THE  TORCH  PRESS 
1910 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  IN  1858 


LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 


BY 

JOSEPH  FORT  NEWTON 

Author  of  "David  Swing:  Poet-Preacher" 


CEDAR  RAPIDS,  IOWA 

THE  TORCH  PRESS 

1910 


COPYRIGHT   1910   BY 
THE  TOKCH  PRESS 


Published  November,  1910 


CEDAR    RAPI 
IOWA 


TO 

JOSEPHINE  KATE 
"THE  BLESSED  BABY" 
WITH  LOVE  AND  JOY 


CONTENTS 

THE  JUNIOR  PARTNER 1 

"LINCOLN  &  HERNDON" 21 

"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD" 53 

HERNDON  AND  PARKER 88 

THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS        .        .        .                 .        .  127 

THE  GREAT  DEBATES 166 

THE  CLOSING  DEBATES 205 

LINCOLN'S  HERNDON        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  237 

THE  LATER  HERNDON 280 

HERNDON 's  LINCOLN 311 

THE  SENIOR  PARTNER  333 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  IN  1858         ....    frontispiece 

OFFICE  OF  LINCOLN  &  HERNDON  .         .         .  facing  p.     42 

THEODORE  PARKER facing  p.  100 

STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS facing  p.  190 

THE  CHARLESTON  DEBATE    ....  facing  p.  212 

THE  "WIGWAM"  IN  CHICAGO,  1860      .        .  facing  p.  271 

JESSE  W.  WEIK facing  p.  305 

WILLIAM  H.  HERNDON  IN  1884   .        .        .  facing  p.  323 


FOREWORD 

Whoso  sends  forth  another  Lincoln  book,  of  which  there 
are  so  many,  must  show  cause  why  it  should  be  read.  It  is 
believed  that  the  present  volume  will  prove  its  own  excuse 
for  being,  by  virtue  of  the  new  material  which  it  contains,  if 
for  no  other  reason.  It  is  not  a  biography  of  Lincoln,  nor  a 
detailed  account  of  the  life  of  Herndon,  but  a  study  of  their 
personal  and  political  fellowship  in  working  out  the  solution 
of  a  great  human  problem;  and  it  should  be  judged  by  its 
spirit,  its  purpose,  and  its  record  of  facts. 

Every  study  of  the  kind,  by  the  very  nature  of  its  material, 
presents  difficulties  in  the  matter  of  arrangement  and  form, 
not  all  of  which  have  been  overcome  in  this  instance.  Letters 
impede  the  narrative,  when  they  do  not  divert  attention  from 
it,  so  that  what  is  gained  in  color  is  lost  in  movement;  and 
the  aim  has  been  to  repeat  as  little  as  possible  of  what  every 
biographer  and  historian  must  recite.  Many  figures  cross  the 
page,  to  each  of  whom  the  author  has  meant  to  be  just,  though 
it  has  not  been  easy  to  keep  the  balance  when  they  were  so 
often  unjust  to  each  other.  Also ;  in  view  of  the  real  service 
of  Herndon  to  Lincoln,  it  has  required  some  effort  to  be 
charitable  to  those  members  of  the  writing  fraternity  who  have 
so  persistently  belittled  the  junior  member  of  the  firm. 

For  the  use  of  the  Herndon-Parker  letters,  here  published 
for  the  first  time,  my  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  F.  B.  Sanborn, 
whose  wealth  of  such  materials  is  only  surpassed  by  his  gen 
erosity  to  his  younger  fellow  students.  He  it  was  who  saw 
the  value  of  those  intense  and  vivid  letters  as  revealing  much 
of  the  inner  history  of  the  period,  making  some  things  clear 
that  had  hitherto  been  dim  —  though  he  need  not  be  held 
to  account  for  the  use  here  made  of  them.  My  thanks  are  also 
due  to  Mr.  Horace  White,  for  the  letters  of  Mr.  Herndon  writ- 


ten  during  the  last  year  of  his  life;  to  Mr.  Jesse  "W.  Weik, 
for  access  to  the  Herndon  manuscripts ;  and  to  Mr.  Henry  B. 
Rankin,  whose  reminiscences  and  suggestions  were  invaluable. 
Similarly,  the  Illinois  Historical  Society  was  most  helpful,  and 
Mrs.  Annie  Fleury,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Herndon,  rendered 
every  aid  within  her  power. 

Such  a  study  suggests  many  reflections.  One  who  looks 
back  over  that  stormy  era,  when  the  life  of  the  nation  hung 
in  a  balance,  will  have  no  need  to  walk  the  floor  for  fear  of 
the  future,  assured  that  should  an  hour  of  danger  strike  a 
man  will  step  forth  to  meet  it.  Having  weathered  such  a 
storm,  this  republic  has  nothing  to  fear  except  a  decay  of  man 
hood,  a  forgetting  of  principles,  and  a  fading  of  ideals.  Once 
divided  in  all  save  name,  it  is  now  united  in  fact,  in  spirit, 
in  historic  memories,  and  patriotic  hopes  —  Lincoln  himself  a 
"mystic  cord  of  memory,"  of  more  power  for  the  safety  and 
sanctity  of  the  nation  than  its  army  and  navy.  So  it  will  be 
in  times  to  come,  if  its  citizens  "here  highly  resolve"  to  fol 
low  no  leader  who,  in  his  private  character  and  public  coun 
sels,  does  not  practice  a  like  moderation,  justice,  firmness,  and 
gentleness  of  spirit. 

If  this  book,  written  by  the  son  of  a  Southern  soldier,  as 
sists,  even  in  a  little  way,  to  a  clearer  understanding  of  the 
greatest  figure  in  our  history,  who  was  at  once  a  child  of  the 
South  and  a  leader  of  the  North,  it  will  have  done  what  it  was 
sincerely  meant  to  do.  J.  P.  N. 

September  4,  1910 


INTRODUCTION 

Before  leaving  America  on  what  was  to  be  his  last  journey, 
in  January,  1859,  Theodore  Parker  communicated  to  me  his 
wish  that  I  should  be  one  of  his  three  executors,  with  special 
charge  of  the  posthumous  publication  of  his  writings.  The 
other  two  executors,  John  Manley  of  Boston  and  Frederick 
May  of  Dorchester — a  first  cousin  of  Mrs.  Bronson  Alcott  — 
were  capable  men  of  business,  and  good  friends  of  mine,  as 
of  Parker,  but  not  specially  devoted  to  scholarship  and  letters. 
I  acted  with  them  in  the  settlement  of  the  estate,  and  was 
ready  to  proceed  with  the  literary  task ;  but  Mrs.  Parker  had 
formed  the  opinion  that  Joseph  Lyman,  another  good  friend 
of  Parker,  was  the  proper  person  for  editor;  and  I  did  not 
press  my  claim  as  executor.  Perhaps  in  recognition  of  this 
conduct,  but  with  no  previous  notice  to  me,  Mrs.  Parker,  at 
her  death,  years  after,  bequeathed  me  all  her  husband's  man 
uscripts,  copyrights,  and  correspondence,  so  far  as  the  same 
had  been  preserved  in  her  own  hands  —  many  of  the  original 
letters  having  been  returned  to  the  writers  or  destroyed. 

Among  those  originals  I  found  the  whole  of  the  five  years' 
correspondence  between  Parker  and  Herndon,  the  law-partner 
of  Abraham  Lincoln  for  more  than  twenty  years.  I  saw  the 
historical  and  political  value  of  this  peculiar  interchange  of 
opinion  and  fact,  by  which  Parker  was  brought  near  the  mind 
of  one  of  his  latest  friends,  who  was  to  complete  the  work  of 
slave-emancipation  —  in  which  Parker  had  been  active  for 
nearly  twenty  years  before  his  death  —  and  was  to  die  as  the 
second  great  martyr  in  the  cause  of  American  emancipation. 
But  it  was  not  convenient  for  me  to  edit  these  letters ;  nor  was 
the  time  ripe  for  this,  thirty  years  ago.  This  Mr.  Newton 
has  now  done  with  research  and  discretion,  collating,  correct 
ing,  and  combining  the  mass  of  material  accumulated  since 
Lincoln's  death,  and  contributing  his  own  verdict  on  the  char 
acters  and  events  of  the  crisis.  He  has  added  new  material, 


bearing  on  the  relations  between  Lincoln  and  Herndon,  to 
whom  earlier  writers  have  by  no  means  done  justice ;  but  who 
in  this  book  stands  revealed  in  his  actual  character,  as  the 
most  important  witness  and  chronicler  of  his  partner's  career. 
He  writes  from  his  own  point  of  view,  and  with  the  advantage 
that  lapse  of  time  gives  to  the  seeker  after  that  most  elusive 
chameleon,  historical  truth.  It  is  a  work  well  done,  and  will 
stand  the  test  of  after  years,  which  unsparingly  judge  the 
mere  eulogy  or  invective  that  would  pass  for  biography. 

In  the  volume  now  completed,  my  early  and  beloved  friend, 
Theodore  Parker,  becomes  almost  a  shadowy  figure  in  the  vast 
drama  of  national  regeneration;  since  he  died,  like  Moses, 
within  sight  of  the  Promised  Land  that  he  was  never  to  enter. 
But  his  work  has  been  so  well  done,  and  was  so  heartily  recog 
nized  by  Herndon,  in  these  enthusiastic  and  picturesque  letters, 
that  this  shadow  stands  for  something  substantial,  which  the 
many  volumes  of  Parker's  discourses  will  certify  and  make  good. 
He  appears  here  as  in  some  sort  the  inspirer  of  Herndon,  and 
through  him  of  Lincoln  —  the  grandest  personage  of  our  long 
unfolding  drama,  and  one  of  the  most  tragic.  At  the  me 
morial  meeting  for  Lincoln  in  Concord,  April  19,  1865,  where 
Emerson  gave  his  matchess  eulogy,  it  fell  to  me  to  express  the 
general  sentiment  in  verse,  thus : 

The  Power  that  sways  the  world  with  love, 
(Though  War  and  Wrath  His  angels  are), 

Throned  thee,  all  earthly  kings  above, 
On  threatened  Freedom 's  flaming  car  — 
To  frighten  tyrants,  near  and  far. 

His  purpose  high  thy  course  impelled 

O'er  War's  red  height  and  smoldering  plain; 

When  awe,  when  pity  thee  withheld, 
He  gave  thy  chafing  speeds  the  rein, 
Till  at  thy  feet  lay  Slavery  slain. 

Then  ceased  thy  task  —  another  hand 

Takes  up  the  burden  thou  lay'st  down: 

Sorrowing  and  glad,  the  rescued  land 
Twofold  awards  thy  just  renown  — 
The  victor's  and  the  martyr's  crown. 

There  was  an  earlier  martyr,  without  whose  sacrifice  in  the 


van  of  the  conflict,  the  strife  would  have  been  less  sharp  at 
first,  but  more  prolonged  and  doubtful  —  the  figure,  yet  more 
tragic,  of  John  Brown.  That  singular  association  of  resem 
blance  by  contrast,  calls  up  each  of  these  two  with  the  other; 
so  like  in  their  aims  and  their  persistence,  so  different  in  their 
method  and  appeal.  They  stood  for  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testament  —  for  severe  justice  and  for  mercy  that  tempers 
justice.  Brown,  like  Lincoln,  was  originally  and  always  for 
the  Union.  Both  saw  that  negro  slavery  was  the  grand  foe  to 
a  perfect  Union,  and  for  that  reason  they  resisted  and  over 
threw  it. 

F.  B.  SANBORN 
Concord,  Mass.,  Sept.  20,  1910 


1  know  Lincoln  better  than  he  knows  himself.  I  know  this 
seems  a  little  strong,  but  I  risk  the  assertion.  Lincoln  is  a 
man  of  heart  —  aye,  as  gentle  as  a  woman's  and  as  tender  — 
but  he  has  a  will  strong  as  iron.  He  therefore  loves  all  man 
kind,  hates  slavery  and  every  form  of  despotism.  Put  these 
together  —  love  for  the  slave,  and  a  determination,  a  will,  that 
justice,  strong  and  unyielding,  shall  be  done  when  he  has  the 
right  to  act  and  you  can  form  your  own  conclusion.  Lincoln 
will  fail  here,  namely,  if  a  question  of  political  economy  —  if 
any  question  comes  up  which  is  doubtful,  questionable,  which 
no  man  can  demonstrate,  then  his  friends  can  rule  him;  but 
when  on  Justice,  Right,  Liberty,  the  Government,  the  Consti 
tution,  and  the  Union,  then  you  may  all  stand  aside:  he  will 
rule  then,  and  no  man  can  move  him  —  no  set  of  men  can  do 
it.  There  is  no  failure  here.  This  is  Lincoln,  and  you  mark 
my  prediction.  You  and  I  must  keep  the  people  right;  God 
will  keep  Lincoln  right.  —  W.  H.  HERNDON  IN  LETTER  TO 
HON.  HENRY  WILSON,  DECEMBER  21,  1860. 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Junior  Partner 

' '  Lincoln  &  Herndon  "  —  so  read  the  old  law  shingle  which 
hung  in  the  bare  stairway  opposite  the  Court  House  Square, 
in  Springfield.  It  had  hung  there  for  many  years,  inviting 
the  passerby,  when  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  was  sud 
denly  called  from  his  dingy  back  office  to  a  task  the  greatest 
ever  committed  to  human  hands,  leaving  Herndon  to  pur 
sue  the  practice  alone.  The  junior  partner  was  not  unwill 
ing  to  have  it  so,  being  devoid  of  an  itch  for  office,  and  hav 
ing  devoted  years  of  tireless  and  self-effacing  labor  in  behalf 
of  his  friend  and  chief,  who  was  also  the  embodiment  of  the 
principles  nearest  to  his  own  heart.  They  parted,  and  a  great 
war  rolled  between  them,  but  that  did  not  sever  the  tie 
which  time  and  sorrow  and  devotion  to  a  mighty  cause  had 
woven.  Though  one  was  taken  and  the  other  left,  the  old 
shingle  still  hung  in  the  stairway,  at  the  request  of  Lincoln, 
until  death  dissolved  the  partnership. 

So  far  little  has  been  written  about  Herndon,  and  some 
have  spoken  of  him  in  a  tone  as  supercilious  as  it  is  unjust. 
This  is  unfortunate,  as  though  he  were  worthy  of  notice  only 
by  virtue  of  accident,  whereas  one  can  hardly  know  Lincoln 
without  knowing  his  partner,  his  loyal  friend,  his  indefat 
igable  fellow-worker.  It  was  a  notable  partnership,  more 
for  its  political  than  for  its  legal  activity,  but  it  will  appear 
more  notable  when  the  service  of  the  junior  partner  is 
known.  Neither  man  was  a  learned  lawyer,  as  that  phrase 
is  now  used,  but  both  were  honest,  able,  and  just,  and  each 
in  his  own  key  was  truly  and  impressively  eloquent  when 
expounding  or  defending  the  fundamental  rights  of  man.  If 
we  may  not  say  that  Herndon  was  a  genius,  he  was  at  least 
a  man  of  exceptional  ability,  and  it  is  believed  that  when  the 


LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 


spirit  and  details  of  his  service  to  Lincoln  are  known,  lie  will 
be  held  in  lasting  and  grateful  memory. 

Those  who  attempt,  as  historians,  to  recall  the  men  of 
former  times,  must  be  just,  and  so  far  W.  H.  Herndon  has 
not  had  his  due.  The  present  study  is  no  apotheosis  of  him, 
but  a  portrayal  of  the  man  as  he  was,  in  private  habit  and 
public  capacity,  with  particular  reference  to  his  service  to 
Lincoln  as  friend  and  adviser,  and  later  as  biographer.  No 
effort  is  made  to  enter  into  the  purely  technical  aspects  of 
their  professional  career.  That  has  been  done  by  another. 
Besides  many  reminiscences,  one  entire  volume  has  been  de 
voted  to  that  special  theme,  and  the  details  need  not  be  re 
peated.1  Our  concern  here  is  with  the  personal  and  political 
side  of  their  partnership,  their  mutual  confidence  and  in 
spiration,  their  influence  upon  each  other,  and  the  manner 
in  which  they  settled  by  anticipation,  in  a  country  law  of 
fice,  the  problem  which  later  was  to  shake  the  minds  of  re 
flecting  men  and  rend  the  nation.  To  this  end  some  account 
must  be  given  of  Mr.  Herndon,  his  antecedents,  his  environ 
ment,  his  personal  history,  and  the  qualities  of  his  mind. 


Herndon  genealogy,  if  we  cared  to  follow  it,  would  take 
us  far  back  and  is  perhaps  part  legendary.  Among  the 
names  inscribed  on  the  roll  of  Battle  Abbey,  as  having  come 
with  William  the  Conqueror,  is  that  of  Heriview,  the  an 
cestor  of  the  Herons,  as  they  were  afterwards  called  —  one 
of  whom  is  said  to  have  followed  King  Richard  in  his  crusade. 
One  branch  of  the  family  assumed  the  suffix  ' '  don, ' '  and  the 
name  so  written  means  "  Bird  of  the  Hills."  The  first  of 
the  family  known,  authentically,  to  have  settled  in  this  coun- 

i  Lincoln  the  Lawyer,  by  F.  T.  Hill  (1906) — a  book  well  conceived  and 
admirable  in  many  ways,  but  not  free  from  error,  nor  exempt  from  grave 
injustice  to  Mr.  Herndon.  More  than  once  the  author  is  guilty  of  thinly 
disguised  disrespect  to  Mr.  Herndon,  hardly  crediting  him  with  any 
ability  as  a  lawyer  at  all.  Nor  is  he  justified  in  saying  that  Herndon  was 
"unfortunately  not  the  most  reliable  of  chroniclers."  This  is  to  err,  as 
so  many  have  done  who  did  not  know  the  man. 


THE  JUNIOR  PARTNER  3 

try  was  William  Herndon,  who  patented  lands  in  St.  Steph 
ens  parish,  New  Kent  County,  Virginia,  as  early  as  1654, 
and  who  three  years  later  married  Catherine  Digges,  a 
daughter  of  the  Governor  of  the  Colony.  This  Herndon  is  a 
very  real  figure,  a  man  of  substance  and  quality,  and  was  the 
foresire  of  a  large  family  to  be  found  in  various  parts  of  the 
South. 

But  we  need  go  no  further  back  than  1795,  when  Archer 
G.  Herndon  was  born  in  Culpeper  County,  Virginia,  and 
whose  family  moved  to  Green  County,  Kentucky,  when  he 
was  about  ten  years  of  age.  In  1816  this  sturdy,  keen- 
minded,  rollicking  youth  married  Rebecca  Johnson,  a  young 
widow  whose  maiden  name  was  Day,  and  their  first  child, 
William  Henry,  was  born  at  Greensburg,  Kentucky,  Decem 
ber  28,  1818  —  three  months  after  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln  died 
in  a  lonely  log  cabin  in  the  wilderness  of  Indiana.  Two  years 
later  Archer  Herndon  moved  with  his  wife  and  babe  to  Troy, 
Madison  County,  Illinois,  where  one  child  was  born  to  them. 
The  following  year,  1821,  they  came  to  Sangamon  County, 
arriving  in  a  cart  drawn  by  one  mule,  and  settled  on  what  is 
now  German  Prairie,  five  miles  northeast  of  Springfield.  This 
was  nine  years  before  Thomas  Lincoln  left  his  cabin  in  Indi 
ana  and  came  to  Illinois  —  the  land  of  "  full-grown  men," 
as  the  word  means. 

Archer  Herndon  and  Thomas  Lincoln  were  typical  of  the 
men  who  settled  southern  Illinois ;  and  it  was  the  southern 
part  of  the  State  that  shaped  the  early  history  and  laws  of 
the  commonwealth.  Even  as  late  as  1836  Chicago  was  a  vil 
lage  of  less  than  half  a  thousand  folk  huddled  about  a  fort, 
and  the  northern  counties  were  sparsely  populated.  Illinois 
was  a  Free  State,  by  ordinance  of  Congress  —  with  the  excep 
tion  of  a  few  French  families,  who  were  allowed  by  special 
enactment  to  retain  their  slaves  —  and,  strangely  enough,  it 
was  for  this  very  reason  that  its  early  settlers,  though  of 
Southern  origin,  chose  it  for  a  home.  And  so  it  remained, 
despite  the  effort  made  in  1822-3,  to  change  it  to  a  Slave 
State  —  Archer  Herndon  taking  an  active  part  on  the  side  of 
slavery.  The  prevailing  sentiment  was  of  a  peculiar  color. 


LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 


Many  of  the  pioneers  were  poor  and  wished  to  find  a  coun 
try  where  their  labor  would  not  be  degraded  by  contact  with 
slave  labor,1  while  others  hated  the  negro  either  in  freedom 
or  slavery,  and  were  decidedly  averse  to  living  with  him  as 
their  equal  before  the  law;  and  they  were  almost  unani 
mously  bitter  in  condemning  any  one  suspected  of  favoring 
emancipation.  Hence  the  drastic  "  Black  Code,"  aimed  at 
the  free  negro,  which  remained  on  the  statute  books  until  long 
after  the  Civil  War.2 

Archer  Herndon  lived  on  German  Prairie  until  1825,  when 
he  removed  to  Springfield  and  engaged  in  mercantile  pur 
suits  until  1836.  During  that  time  he  erected  the  first  reg 
ular  tavern  in  the  town,  and  attained  to  prominence  as  a 
Democratic  politician.  He  was  a  "  character  "  in  his  day, 
intense  by  nature,  positive  in  his  likes  and  dislikes,  akin  to 
the  roysterer  in  both  manners  and  morals,  albeit  a  man  of 
many  excellent  qualities.  In  the  meantime  his  oldest  son, 
William  Henry,  was  growing  up  —  a  robust,  sinewy  lad,  with 
large  angular  features,  deep-set  dark  eyes,  crowned  with  a 
shock  of  blue-black  hair  —  and  he  was  inclined,  at  times,  to 
imitate  his  father  in  certain  habits  in  which  a  father  least 
cares  to  have  his  son  follow  him.  Indeed,  father  and  son 
were  so  much  alike  that  their  relations  were  often  difficult, 
and  would  have  been  impossible  but  for  the  sweet  diplomacy 
of  a  good  and  wise  mother. 

Young  Herndon  first  saw  Lincoln  in  1832,  when  the 
steamer  Talisman  was  puffing  and  wheezing  about  in  the 
Sangamon,  in  her  effort  to  force  the  passage  and  prove  that 
the  river  was  navigable.  Rowan  Herndon  of  New  Salem  —  a 
cousin  of  William  —  who  was  chosen  to  pilot  the  steamer  from 
near  Springfield  to  the  Illinois  River,  selected  Lincoln  as  his 
assistant ;  and  together  they  ran  the  Talisman,  which  Lincoln 
afterwards  described  as  having  "  a  five-foot  boiler  and  a 
seven-foot  whistle,  so  that  every  time  the  whistle  blew  the 

1  See  letter  from  W.  H.  Herndon  to  Theodore  Parker,  Feb.  16,  1856, 
in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

2  History  of  Illinois,  by  Governor  Ford,  pp.   30-50    (1854);   Negro 
Servitude  in  Illinois,  by  N.  D.  Harris,  Chap.  I-IV  (1904). 


THE  JUNIOE  PARTNER 


boat  stopped."  When  the  steamer  left  New  Salem,  William 
Herndon  and  other  boys  followed  it,  riding  on  horseback 
along  the  bank  —  a  leisurely  enough  journey,  for  the  gallant 
craft  averaged  only  four  miles  a  day.  At  Bogue's  Mill  the 
boat  tied  up,  and  the  boys  went  aboard  and  explored  the 
splendors  of  her  interior  decorations.  There  Herndon  met 
his  future  partner,  and  the  incident  lost  none  of  its  comedy 
when  in  after  years  the  two  men  were  wont  to  talk  over  old 
times.  They  did  not  become  well  acquainted,  however,  until 
Lincoln  made  his  second  race  for  the  Assembly  two  years 
later. 

Lincoln  returned  to  New  Salem  and  lived  with  Rowan 
Herndon,  buying  from  Herndon  his  half  interest  in  the  store 
which  he  owned  with  Berry.  Failing  in  this  enterprise,  he 
became  by  turns  a  postmaster  who  carried  his  office  in  his  hat, 
and  a  surveyor  whose  outfit  was  sold  for  debt ;  reading  Black- 
stone  at  odd  hours,  but  most  of  all  the  newspapers ;  also  Gib 
bon,  Volney,  and  Paine,  under  whose  tutelage  he  became  a 
rude  denier  of  the  rude  theology  of  his  day.  Young  Herndon 
frequently  met  him  in  those  days,  while  visiting  his  cousin, 
and  at  the  Rutledge  Tavern  where  Lincoln  lived  after  Rowan 
Herndon  moved  to  the  country.  How  far  the  early  rational 
ism  of  Lincoln  influenced  the  later  views  of  Herndon,  is  not 
known ;  but  something  in  the  gentle,  studious  giant  attracted 
the  lad,  and  in  the  summer  of  1834  the  boy  more  than  once 
accompanied  him  in  his  canvass  for  the  Assembly,  listening 
to  his  stories.  The  Herndon  and  Rutledge  families  were 
friends,  and  in  a  village  where  there  were  few  secrets  every 
one  followed  the  courtship  of  Lincoln  and  Ann  Rutledge  like 
a  story-book,  until  it  ended  with  the  return  of  McNamar,  who 
found  his  sweetheart  dead  and  Lincoln  broken-hearted.  Hern 
don  knew  Ann  Rutledge,  and  her  death,  which  divided  the 
life  of  Lincoln  into  before  and  after,  touched  him  deeply,  as 
may  be  seen  in  a  lecture  delivered  by  him  in  1866,  in  which 
he  first  told  the  story. 

During  his  first  term  in  the  Assembly  Lincoln  said  little, 
and  learned  much.  He  was  a  candidate  for  re-election  in 
1836,  Archer  G.  Herndon  running  for  State  Senator  on  the 


LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 


Democratic  ticket  in  the  same  campaign.  Both  men  were 
elected  and  became  members  of  the  famous  ' '  Long  Nine, ' '  by 
whose  strategy  the  capital  was  moved  from  Vandalia  to 
Springfield  —  which  event  Herndon  celebrated,  in  his  best 
manner,  by  opening  a  barrel  of  rum.  Meanwhile,  William 
Herndon  was  studying  in  the  schools  of  Springfield,  and  serv 
ing  at  odd  times  as  clerk  in  Joshua  Speed's  store.  One  of  his 
teachers  was  John  C.  Calhoun,  a  gifted  and  lovable  man  under 
whom  Lincoln  had  served  as  assistant  surveyor,  and  who  af 
terwards  became  famous,  or  infamous,  in  connection  with  the 
fraudulent  Lecompton  constitution  in  Kansas.1  In  the  au 
tumn  of  that  year,  1836,  Herndon  entered  the  preparatory 
department  of  the  Illinois  College,  at  Jacksonville  —  five 
months  before  Lincoln  rode  into  Springfield  on  a  borrowed 
horse,  with  a  pair  of  saddle-bags  containing  two  or  three  law 
books  and  a  few  pieces  of  clothing,  to  make  the  new  capital 
his  home  and  Joshua  Speed's  store  his  headquarters. 

Lincoln  had  served  with  Major  John  T.  Stuart  in  the 
Black  Hawk  "War  —  sworn  into  the  service,  it  is  said,  by  Jef 
ferson  Davis2 —  and  Stuart  now  offered  him  a  partnership  at 
law,  having  loaned  him  books  the  while  and  induced  him  to 
move  to  Springfield.  This  offer  was  gladly  accepted,  and 
while  Lincoln  was  only  beginning  the  practice  he  did  much 
of  the  work  of  the  office,  Stuart  being  deeply  immersed  in  pol 
itics.  At  least  nearly  all  the  papers  of  the  firm  were  written 
by  him,  though  he  had  little  love  for  such  labor,  and  less  or- 

1  When  that   document   was   transmitted   by   President   Buchanan   to 
Congress,  on  Feb.  2,  1858,  it  bore  a  note,  ' '  Received  from  J.  C.  Calhoun, 
Esq.,  duly  certified  by  him, ' '  recommending  that  Kansas  be  made  a  Slave 
State  under  it.     A  committee  from  the  Legisature  getting  a  hint  of  the 
fraudulent  election  returns,  found  them  secreted  in  a  candle-box  under  a 
wood-pile  near  Calhoun 's  office ;  so  he  was  known  as  John  Candlebox  Cal- 
ho'un.     Better  for  him  and  for  his  country  had  he  remained  a  surveyor 
and  a  school-teacher  in  Illinois;  but  Herndon,  who  loved  him,  left  this 
story  out  of  the  record. 

2  ' '  Then  a  tall,  gawky,  slab-sided,  homely  young  man,  dressed  in  a  suit 
of  blue  jeans,  presented  himself  as  captain  of  a  company  of  recruits,  and 
was  sworn  in  by  Jefferson  Davis. ' '  —  Life  of  Jefferson  Davis,  by  his  wife, 
Vol.  I,  p.  132  (1890). 


THE  JUNIOR  PARTNER 


der  in  doing  it.  They  mixed  law  with  politics,  both  partners 
serving  in  the  Assembly,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1837  Stuart, 
after  an  exciting  contest,  defeated  Douglas  for  Congress. 
This  left  Lincoln  with  all  the  work  to  do,  besides  the  duty  of 
helping  his  partner  politically  —  a  kind  of  industry  congenial 
to  him.  which  was  no  doubt  one  reason  why  Stuart  chose  him 
as  managing  clerk.  He  knew  how  to  play  the  game  of  politics 
according  to  the  rules  thereof,  and  was  not  over-nice  as  to 
methods  when  no  moral  principle  was  involved.1  On  one  is 
sue,  however,  he  had  courageous  convictions,  nor  did  he  at 
any  time  permit  his  Machiavellian  shrewdness  to  over-reach 
them. 

Slavery  had  become  a  question  about  which  men  in  Illinois 
picked  their  words  with  care.  So  intense  was  the  feeling  that 
in  March,  1837  —  one  month  before  Lincoln  entered  the  office 
of  Stuart  —  the  Assembly  passed  a  resolution  expressing  dis 
approval  of  the  formation  of  Abolition  societies  and  of  the 
doctrines  advocated  by  them.  Many  men  who  hated  slavery 
sympathized  in  part  with  this  action,  on  the  ground  that  such 
agitation  tended  more  to  irritate  men  than  to  convince  them, 
thus  making  the  situation  doubly  difficult.  An  orator  who 
expended  his  fiery  eloquence  in  denouncing  the  evil,  without 
suggesting  any  practical  way  of  dealing  with  it,  was  felt  to 
be  "  as  one  who  beat  the  air. ' '  Still  the  resolution  of  the  As 
sembly,  passed  with  great  enthusiasm,  glibly  ignored  the 
moral  principle  involved,  and  it  required  some  courage  for 
Lincoln  to  file  protest  against  it.  But  he  did  so  in  words  so 
well-chosen  and  far-sighted  that  he  had  no  need  to  alter  them 
for  thirty  years.  He  held  that  slavery  "  is  founded  on  both 
injustice  and  bad  policy,  but  that  the  promulgation  of  aboli- 

i  Governor  Ford,  writing  of  this  period,  and  having  in  mind  the  wild 
schemes  of  internal  improvement,  could  see  nothing  in  Lincoln  and  Doug 
las  but  "dexterous  jugglers  and  managers  in  politics,  spared  monuments 
of  popular  wrath,  evincing  how  safe  it  is  to  be  a  politician,  but  how  dis 
astrous  it  may  be  to  the  community,  to  keep  along  with  the  fervor  of  the 
people,  right  or  wrong."  —  History  of  Illinois,  pp.  181-198  (1854).  It 
should  be  added,  in  mitigation,  that  this  indictment  included  all  the 
"Long  Nine,"  as  well  as  others,  naming  the  list;  and  in  face  of  the 
record  this  arraignment  does  not  seem  unjust. 


8 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

tion  doctrines  tends  rather  to  increase  than  to  abate  the  evils. ' ' 
On  that  basis  he  stood  firm,  and  neither  the  allurements  of 
good-fellowship  nor  the  blandishments  of  office  could  move 
him. 

Shortly  afterwards  Elijah  Lovejoy,  editor  of  the  St.  Louis 
Observer,  a  religious  weekly,  was  driven  from  that  city  by  a 
mob  for  expressing  anti-slavery  sentiments  in  his  paper.  Un 
wisely,  as  many  thought,  he  established  his  paper  at  Alton, 
Illinois,  only  twenty  miles  distant  by  steamer,  with  the  result 
that  a  mob  attacked  his  press  and  he  was  shot  while  defending 
it.  Not  satisfied  with  this  brutal  crime,  the  mob  threatened 
to  attack  Illinois  College  at  Jacksonville,  because  its  president, 
Edward  Beecher,  had  stood  guard  with  Lovejoy  the  night  be 
fore  the  tragedy.1  Excitement  was  at  fever  heat,  and  indig 
nation  meetings  were  held  throughout  the  State.  At  a  gath 
ering  of  students,  notable  for  its  intensity  of  feeling,  William 
Herndon,  in  a  speech  long  remembered  by  his  fellow  students, 
denounced  not  only  the  enslavement  of  men,  but  the  attempt 
to  gag  the  press  by  mob  rule. 

The  elder  Herndon,  who  was  intensely  pro-slavery  in  his 
views,  fearing  that  his  son  had  become  infected  with  the 
poison  of  abolitionism,  withdrew  the  lad  from  college,  re 
marking  that  he  would  have  no  part  in  the  education  of  "  a 
d —  -  Abolitionist  pup!  "'  It  was  as  he  had  suspected.  The 
lad  came  home  an  enthusiastic  and  radical  Abolitionist,  bold 
and  outspoken,  as  was  his  way  always,  and  the  passion  for 
liberty  and  justice  exploded  in  him  what  faith  he  had  in  the  re 
ligion  of  the  church  —  as  it  exploded  the  faith  of  so  many  men 
of  his  ardent  and  vivid  type  in  those  days.  At  any  rate,  he 
was  thereafter  a  rationalist,  or  perhaps  one  should  say  natu- 

1  See  the  Autobiography  of  Julian  M.  Sturtevant,  edited  by  his  son, 
Chap.  XV  (1896).  Also,  Illinois  College  and  the  Anti-Slavery  Movement 
in  Illinois,  by  C.  H.  Remmelkamp,  a  paper  before  the  Illinois  Historical 
Society  (1909).  Dr.  Sturtevant  was  a  professor  in  the  Illinois  College  at 
the  time  of  Love  joy's  death,  and  was  his  personal  friend.  Lovejoy  may 
have  been  rash  and  unwise,  as  men  count  wisdom,  but  he  had  a  soul  of 
fire,  and  his  name  is  written  among  the  martyrs  of  liberty.  See  Memoir 
of  Lovejoy,  by  Joseph  and  Owen  Lovejoy,  introduction  by  John  Quincy 
Adams  (1838). 


THE  JUNIOB  PARTNER 9 

ralist.  There  was  a  break  between  father  and  son,  and  the 
boy  left  home,  though  he  remained  religiously  loyal  to  his 
mother,  visiting  her  almost  every  day.  He  was  again  em 
ployed  by  Joshua  Speed  as  a  clerk  in  his  store,  probably  at 
the  suggestion  of  Lincoln,  to  whom  he  confided  his  new  re 
ligious  and  political  faith.  Writing  of  the  time  immediately 
following,  Mr.  Herndon  says : 1 

On  my  return  to  Springfield  from  college,  I  hired  to  Joshua 
F.  Speed  as  clerk  in  his  store.  My  salary,  seven  hundred 
dollars  per  annum,  was  considered  good  pay.  Speed,  Lin 
coln,  Charles  R.  Hurst,  and  I  slept  in  the  room  upstairs 
over  the  store.  I  had  worked  for  Speed  before  going  to 
college,  and  after  hiring  to  him  this  time  again,  continued 
in  his  employ  for  several  years.  The  young  men  who  con 
gregated  about  the  store  formed  a  society  for  the  encour 
agement  of  debate  and  other  literary  efforts.  Sometimes 
we  would  meet  in  a  lawyer's  office  and  often  in  Speed's 
room.  Besides  the  debates,  poems  and  other  original  pro 
ductions  were  read.  Unfortunately  we  ruled  out  the  la 
dies.  ...  I  have  forgotten  the  name  of  the  society - 
if  it  had  any  —  and  can  only  recall  a  few  of  its  leading 
spirits.  Lincoln,  James  Matheney,  Noah  Rickard,  Evan 
Butler,  Milton  Hay,  and  Newton  Francis  were  members. 
I  joined  also.  Matheney  was  secretary.  We  were  favored 
with  all  sorts  of  literary  productions.  Lincoln  one  night 
entertained  us  with  a  few  lines  in  rhyme  intended  to  illus 
trate  some  weakness  in  woman  —  her  frailty,  perhaps.  Un 
fortunately,  the  manuscript  has  not  been  preserved.  .  .  . 
Besides  this  organization  we  had  a  society  in  Spring 
field,  which  contained  and  commanded  all  the  culture  and 
talent  of  the  place.  Unlike  the  other  one,  its  meetings  were 
public,  and  reflected  great  credit  on  the  community.  We 
called  it  the  "  Young  Men's  Lyceum."  Late  in  1837,  Lin 
coin  delivered  before  the  society  a  carefully  prepared  ad 
dress  on  "  The  Perpetuation  of  Our  Free  Institutions." 
The  inspiration  and  burthen  of  it  was  law  and  order.  (It 
was  brought  out  by  the  burning  of  a  negro  by  a  mob  at  St. 
Louis  a  few  weeks  before.)  Matheney  was  appointed  by 
the  Lyceum  to  request  of  Lincoln  a  copy  of  his  address 
and  to  see  to  its  publication.  ...  It  was  published  in 


i  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  W.  H.  Herndon  and  Jesse  W.  Weik.  All  refer 
ences  are  to  the  second  edition  (1892),  the  first  being  now  practically  in 
accessible. 


10 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

the  Sangamon  Journal,  and  created  for  the  young  orator  a 
reputation  which  soon  extended  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
locality  in  which  he  lived. 

Herndon  had  always  the  instinct  of  a  student,  though  he 
was  lacking  in  polish,  as  were  most  of  the  loungers  who  gath 
ered  about  the  inviting  fireplace  in  Speed's  store.  One  even 
ing  the  talk  turned  on  politics,  and  the  disputants  waxed 
warm  as  the  discussion  proceeded  —  Herndon  sitting  on  a 
keg  listening.  Douglas  led  the  Democrats,  charging  the 
Whigs  with  every  sort  of  political  crime.  At  last,  excited 
and  vehement,  he  sprang  to  his  feet  and  challenged  his  op 
ponents  to  debate  the  question  in  public,  adding  that  the 
store  was  no  place  to  talk  politics.  His  challenge  was  ac 
cepted,  and  the  contest  was  arranged  to  take  place  in  the 
old  Presbyterian  church  —  Douglas,  J.  C.  Calhoun,  Josiah 
Lamborn,  and  Jesse  Thomas  to  represent  the  Democrats; 
Stephen  T.  Logan,  E.  H.  Baker,  0.  H.  Browning,  and  Lin 
coln,  in  the  order  named,  to  represent  the  Whigs.  One  even 
ing  was  given  to  each  man,  and  it  required  more  than  a  week 
to  complete  the  tournament.  Later,  Lincoln  and  Calhoun  de 
bated  the  tariff  question  after  the  same  manner,  in  the  court 
house.  Such  debates  were  frequent,  serving  the  double  pur 
pose  of  keeping  party  spirit  alive  and  of  giving  young  men 
a  chance  to  be  seen  and  heard. 

Others  who  foregathered  at  Speed's  store,  to  read  poems 
and  talk  politics,  won  fame  in  after  years.  In  company  with 
these  aspiring  politicians  Herndon  began  to  learn,  at  close 
range,  the  workings  of  practical  politics.  He  could  not  have 
had  better  teachers,  for  they  were  masters  of  all  the  various 
methods  of  that  devious  art;  Lincoln  quite  the  equal  of  any 
of  them  in  pulling  a  wire  or  turning  a  trick.  Herndon  be 
came  in  time,  as  this  record  will  show,  one  of  the  most  useful 
Abolitionists  in  the  West  —  if  not  in  the  whole  country  —  and 
it  was  due  in  large  part  to  his  training  under  these  adroit 
leaders ;  his  familiarity  with  the  methods  of  practical  politics 
making  him  more  astute  and  wary,  but  not  less  intense  or 
uncompromising,  than  his  fellow  radicals  in  the  East.  Lin 
coln  was  re-elected  to  the  Assembly  in  1838,  after  a  canvass 


THE  JUNIQB  PARTNER 11 

which  took  him  into  almost  every  home  in  the  county.  The 
next  year  Major  Stuart  was  re-elected  to  Congress,  leaving 
his  partner  to  attend  to  the  practice  of  the  firm,  which  by  this 
time  included  the  beginnings  of  "circuit  riding" — follow 
ing  the  judges  from  one  log  court  house  to  another,  always 
over  bad  roads  and  often  across  swollen  streams;  a  kind  of 
life  Lincoln  enjoyed,  despite  its  inconveniences,  for  its  rov 
ing,  careless  freedom,  and  its  rollicking  comradeship.  So  his 
days  ran,  full  equally  of  law  and  politics,  until  April,  1841, 
when  the  firm  of  "  Stuart  &  Lincoln  "  was  dissolved.1 

Herndon  was  nominally  a  Whig  until  1853,  and  the  "  log 
cabin  and  hard  cider  campaign  "  of  1840  was  the  first  in 
which  he  took  an  active  part  —  his  part  including,  besides  a 
number  of  enthusiastic  speeches,  some  industrious  election 
eering.  Lincoln  was  on  the  Whig  ticket  that  year,  as  candi 
date  for  Presidential  Elector  at  large,  and  spoke  at  various  ral 
lies  where  a  log  cabin,  with  a  gourd  for  a  cider  mug  hanging 
on  one  side  of  the  door,  and  a  coon-skin  nailed  to  the  logs  on 
the  other,  was  the  picturesque  emblem  of  his  party.  While 
his  friend  was  thus  rising  in  politics,  Herndon  had  fallen  in 
love  and  married  Mary  J.  Maxey  —  a  Kentucky  girl,  born  near 
Bowling  Green  in  1822,  whose  father,  James  Maxey,  had  come 
to  Springfield  in  1834.  She  was  a  woman  to  win  the  love  of 
any  man,  as  gentle  and  serene  as  her  husband  was  impulsive 
and  impetuous. 

II 

Thus  far  we  have  had  to  do  with  Lincoln  chiefly  as  he  touched 
Herndon,  showing  how  their  lives  were  braided  together.  He 

i  In  his  Autobiography  Joseph  Jefferson  tells  how  Lincoln  represented 
his  father  in  a  plea  before  the  City  Council  against  an  exorbitant  and 
prohibitory  license  imposed  upon  his  theatre  in  1839,  as  the  result  of  a 
religious  revival.  The  passage  is  picturesque  but  hardly  correct,  for 
Lincoln  was  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  town 
of  Springfield,  and  must  have  acted  in  that  capacity.  The  speech  at 
tributed  to  him  was  probably  embellished  by  Jefferson's  imagination, 
though  it  was  the  destiny  of  Lincoln  to  be  fond  of  the  drama  with  few  op 
portunities  to  enjoy  it.  See  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  I.  N.  Phillips  (1910). 


12 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

was  now  thirty-one  years  of  age,  and  behind  him  lay  that 
strange,  lonely,  heroic,  pathetic  story  which  so  many  have 
tried  to  tell,  but  which  still  awaits  the  touch  of  a  master 
hand.  Indeed,  Lincoln  must  puzzle  any  artist,  for  that  he 
was  so  unlike  any  model  —  peculiar,  particular,  and  unique, 
compounded  of  so  many  elements  which  in  smaller  natures 
are  contradictory,1  and  yet  withal  so  simple,  natural,  and 
human.  The  present  study  does  not  include  his  life  in  de 
tail,  even  if  this  were  the  pen  to  record  it ;  but  as  he  enters 
a  new  career  those  early  years  return  in  the  vividness  of 
their  monotony,  their  loneliness,  privation,  and  toil ;  full  of 
the  patience  that  could  walk  down  a  long  road  without  turn 
ing,  brightened  by  dutifulness  alone,  pointed  but  not  cheered 
by  wayside  anecdote;  until  at  last,  by  integrity,  fortitude, 
and  resolute  will,  he  was  successful ;  not  so  much  because  he 
was  sanguine  of  himself,  as  because  he  rated  no  eminence  or 
honor  too  high  or  too  difficult  to  attain.  His  later  fame,  so 
unlike  his  early  life,  made  men  stare,  because  they  had  not 
seen  the  steps  he  took  upon  the  way. 

So  we  meet  him  in  1840,  making  his  way  slowly,  unhappy, 
ambitious,  and  alone.  He  was  inured  to  hardship  and  pov 
erty  ;  rarely  ill,  being  a  man  of  regular  habits,  wiry  and  stal 
wart  beyond  the  best  of  western  men;  having  a  certain  in 
nate  dignity  and  charm  of  nature,  despite  his  ungainly  figure 
and  ill-fitting  garb;  and  what  he  was  he  had  made  himself. 
He  had  few  illusions  about  himself  or  the  world,  and  did  not 
expect  great  destiny  to  come  to  him  unsolicited,  as  a  lottery 
prize.  He  knew  there  must  be  work,  patience,  wisdom,  plan 
ning,  disappointment;  and,  while  he  was  not  lazy,  he  always 
loafed  a  little,  studying  men  more  than  books,  and  reading 
the  issues  as  they  developed.  Never  petulant  but  sometimes 
moody,  he  was  fond  of  solitude  and  self-communion,  and 
would  often  sit  for  hours  looking  absently  at  the  ceiling, 
dead  to  the  world  and  buried  in  thought.  At  such  times  he 
seemed  to  be  a  dreamer  thinking.  At  other  times,  noted  and 
remembered  by  his  friends,  a  cloud  would  fall  over  his  face, 
and  he  was  the  most  hopeless  and  forlorn  of  mortals,  as 

i  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  J.  G.  Holland,  pp.  240-242  (1886). 


THE  JUNIOR  PARTNER 13 

though  tortured  by  some  hidden  sorrow,  or  brooding  over 
some  immemorial  wrong  that  never  in  time  or  eternity  could 
be  set  right.  When  the  shadow  lifted  he  was  himself  again,  be 
guiling  the  hours  with  the  aptness  and  ingenuities  of  his  anec 
dotes  —  some  of  them  more  cogent  than  delicate,  though  he 
tolerated  smuttiness  only  when  it  was  disinfected  by  wit. 
His  friends  were  selected  with  regard  to  sincerity  chiefly; 
he  loved  not  cliques,  and  those  who  knew  him  best  were 
younger  men.  He  was  strangely  reserved  in  friendship, 
rarely  surrendering  entire  confidence,  seldom  a  hero-worship 
er;  and  for  Douglas,  his  rival  in  love  and  politics,  he  had 
less  admiration  than  revulsion.  All  the  while  he  seemed  to 
know  everybody,  and  yet  only  Speed  and  Herndon  ever  felt 
that  they  knew  him. 

Lincoln  was  hard  to  know,  particularly  while  he  was  in 
the  process  of  making.  He  was,  moreover,  so  deeply  rooted 
in  the  soil  of  his  time  and  place,  yet  towered  so  far  above  it, 
that  the  union  in  him  of  crudities  and  refinements  was  baffling. 
An  example  in  point,  at  this  period,  may  be  seen  in  his  re 
lations  with  women,  which  have  been  much  dwelt  upon  by 
his  biographers;  too  much  so,  perhaps,  yet  one  hesitates  to 
erase  a  line.  A  master  of  men  and  at  ease  with  them,  he  had 
no  skill  with  women,  and  was  never  at  his  best  in  their  pres 
ence,  being  not  only  deficient,  as  one  of  them  said,  in  the 
knack  of  small  attentions,  but  quite  helpless  amid  the  subtle 
ties  of  the  feminine  nature.  At  the  grave  of  Ann  Rutledge 
he  vowed,  it  is  said,  never  to  marry ;  yet  within  a  few  months 
he  was  strangely  entangled  again,  learning  from  Mary  Owens 
the  comedy  of  love  as  before  he  had  learned  its  tragedy. 
Judging  from  his  letters  to  her,  he  had  not  yet  put  a  foot 
into  the  upper  circle  of  society,  caring  less  than  nothing,  ap 
parently,  for  that  side  of  life. 

No  sooner  had  he  entered  that  circle,  in  which  he  was 
never  at  home,  than  he  met  Mary  Todd,  a  Kentucky  girl  of 
distinguished  lineage,  highly  cultured,  compact  of  brilliance, 
coquetry,  and  wit.  Lincoln  had  not  met  such  a  woman  be 
fore,  and  he  was  captivated  by  her  cleverness,  vivacity,  and 
beauty.  A  courtship  followed,  and  the  friends  of  both  were 


14 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

astounded  when  the  high-spirited  belle  announced  her  be 
trothal  to  the  tall,  loosely-knit  lawyer.  Relatives  felt  that 
they  were  not  suited,  and  expressed  forebodings.  There  were 
jars  and  misunderstandings.  Douglas,  fated  to  be  a  rival  at 
every  turn,  was  also  a  suitor  for  the  hand  of  Mary  Todd. 
Gossip  said  that  Lincoln  was  devoted  to  Matilda  Edwards, 
and  that  he  told  Mary  so.  Many  thoughts  must  have  crossed 
his  mind  as  to  the  different  roads  they  had  traveled  to  their 
meeting,  and  he  doubted  his  ability  to  make  such  a  woman 
happy.  Torn  betwixt  love  and  morbid  misgivings,  he  took 
counsel  of  Joshua  Speed,  by  whose  advice  he  sought  release, 
only  to  find  himself  more  closely  bound.  The  wedding  day 
came  but  the  marriage  was  not  solemnized.  Of  so  much  we 
are  sure ;  and  the  report  is  that  Lincoln,  who  did  not  appear, 
was  found  by  his  friends  wandering  in  utter  despair,  actu 
ally,  it  is  said,  contemplating  suicide.1 

Still,  he  was  at  his  desk  the  next  day  in  the  Assembly, 
then  in  special  session,  though  he  did  not  appear  often  until 
later  in  the  month.  On  the  19th  J.  J.  Hardin  announced  his 
illness  in  the  House,  but  he  returned  in  time  to  take  part  in 
fighting  a  scheme  to  "  reform  "  the  judiciary,  whereby  the 
artful  Douglas  hoped  to  secure  a  seat  on  the  Supreme  Bench. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  session  some  one  twitted  him  on  his 
experience  with  women,  and  he  replied  in  his  best  vein  of 
humor.  But  it  was  all  on  the  outside.  Inwardly  he  was  tor 
tured  not  only  by  the  fact  that  he  had  wronged  another,  but 
by  the  feeling  that  he  had  lost  his  own  self-respect.  Which 
humiliation  was  the  deeper,  he  knew  not.  Major  Stuart  was 
away  in  Congress,  and  what  business  the  firm  had  fell  on 
him,  but  neither  work  nor  politics  brought  him  relief.  Near 
the  end  of  the  month  he  wrote  to  his  partner,  in  a  mood  of 
dismal  melancholy: 

For  not  giving  you  a  general  summary  of  news,  you  must 

i  Herndon  's  account  of  this  incident  is  undeniably  vivid,  and  some 
think  it  highly  embellished  (Vol.  1,  pp.  191-207).  This  and  kindred  ques 
tions  will  be  considered  in  the  review  of  the  Herndon  biography  in  a  sub 
sequent  chapter.  At  any  rate,  the  ' '  fatal  1st  of  January, ' '  1841,  stands 
out  in  the  life  of  Lincoln. 


15 


pardon  me ;  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  do  so.  I  am  now  the 
most  miserable  man  living.  If  what  I  feel  were  equally 
distributed  to  the  whole  human  family,  there  would  not 
be  one  cheerful  face  on  the  earth.  Whether  I  shall  ever  be 
better,  I  cannot  tell ;  I  awfully  forebode  I  shall  not.  To  re 
main  as  I  am  is  impossible;  I  must  die  or  be  better,  it  ap 
pears  to  me.  ...  I  say  this  because  I  fear  I  shall  not  be 
able  to  attend  to  any  business  here,  and  a  change  of  scene 
might  help  me.  If  I  could  be  myself,  I  would  rather  remain 
at  home  with  Judge  Logan.  I  can  write  no  more. 

But  there  was  more  to  the  matter,  if  we  may  judge  from 
his  letters  to  Speed,  which  Herndon  secured  with  difficulty 
and  not  without  some  omissions.  Those  letters,  unique  in 
their  intimate  disclosures,  had  to  do  with  matters  about 
which  men  seldom  speak,  much  less  write.  The  two  friends 
seem  to  have  talked  about  marriage  until  they  had  become 
fearful  of  it,  as  though  it  were  a  perilous  leap  into  an  abyss. 
Speed  was  passing  through  a  similar  ordeal  of  misgiving  with 
regard  to  it,  and  Lincoln  lectured  him  about  his  doubts  and 
forebodings,  probably  at  the  same  time  arguing  against  his 
own.  He  warned  his  friend  against  too  much  solitude  and 
self-torture;  against  mistaking  the  depressing  influence  of 
the  weather  for  a  suggestion  of  the  devil ;  against  an  ' '  in 
tensity  of  thought  which  will  sometimes  wear  the  sweetest 
idea  threadbare,  and  turn  it  into  the  bitterness  of  death." 
Such  a  state  of  mind  he  attributed  to  nervous  debility  in 
Speed,  and  hinted  as  much  in  his  own  case.  Writing  to  Mary 
Speed,  he  tells  of  seeing  a  band  of  slaves,  chained  together, 
going  South,  the  most  cheerful  and  happy  folk  on  board  the 
boat.  This  leads  him  to  reflect  on  the  effect  of  condition  upon 
human  happiness,  and  he  adds:  "How  true  it  is  that  'God 
tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb,'  or  in  other  words,  that 
he  renders  the  worst  human  condition  tolerable,  while  he  per 
mits  the  best  to  be  nothing  better  than  tolerable."  Thus  he 
lived  in  a  dun-colored  world,  sensitive  to  its  plaintive,  minor 
note,  under  a  sky  as  gray  as  a  tired  face. 

In  April  following  ' '  the  fatal  1st  of  January ' '   -  for  so 
Lincoln  always  referred  to  his  wedding  day  —  the  firm  of 


16 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

"  Stuart  &  Lincoln  "  was  dissolved,  and  the  junior  member 
was  offered  a  partnership  with  Stephen  T.  Logan,  a  former 
Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court.  This  offer  was  accepted,  and  the 
training  which  Lincoln  received  in  the  office  of  that  precise, 
methodical  jurist  was  one  of  the  best  parts  of  his  education. 
Judge  Logan  was  a  little,  weasened  man,  with  a  high,  shrill 
voice,  a  keen,  shrewd  face,  and  a  shock  of  yellow  white  hair 
-  picturesque  in  his  old  cape,  and  admittedly  the  best  trial 
lawyer  in  the  State.  He  was  devoted  equally  to  the  philos 
ophy  and  the  art  of  the  law,  re-reading  Blackstone  every 
year,  and  was  such  an  adept  at  splitting  hairs  that  a  jury  of 
farmers  could  see  the  divisions.  The  two  men  had  little  in 
common,  beyond  the  fact  that  both  were  good  Whigs  and 
exceedingly  anxious  for  political  honors.  Logan  loved  money, 
and  kept  most  of  the  earnings ;  but  this  did  not  trouble  Lin 
coln,  who  loved  fame  more  than  money,  and  regarded  wealth 
as  "  simply  a  superfluity  of  things  we  don't  need."  That 
summer  he  visited  Speed,  who  had  sold  his  interests  and 
moved  back  to  Kentucky,  and  was  much  helped  by  the  change 
of  scene.  Returning,  he  bent  to  his  work,  in  his  easy-going, 
unsystematic  way,  keeping  an  eye  on  the  eddies  of  politics, 
and  playing  hide  and  seek  with  his  shadowy  melancholy. 

The  next  winter,  1842,  he  took  part  in  the  Washingtonian 
temperance  crusade,  making  several  speeches,  one  of  which 
has  come  down  to  us.  Comparing  it  with  his  former  efforts, 
one  discovers  a  marked  advance  in  restraint  of  style,  which 
became  every  year  less  decorative  and  more  forthright,  simple, 
and  thrusting ;  and  the  style  was  the  man.1  Rarely  has  that  dif 
ficult  theme  been  treated  in  so  calm,  earnest,  and  judicious  a 
manner,  with  surer  insight  or  a  finer  spirit.  He  was  al 
ready  dreaming,  it  would  seem,  of  a  time  when  there  should 
be  neither  a  slave  nor  a  drunkard  in  the  republic.  But  his 
address,  so  far  from  finding  favor,  excited  hostility,  for,  speak 
ing  out  of  his  wide  knowledge  of  men,  and  the  wise  pity  which 

1  See  an  admirable  thesis  of  Prof.  D.  K.  Dodge,  of  the  University  of 
Illinois,  entitled,  Abraham  Lincoln:  The  Evolution  of  His  Literary  Style 
(1900).  Also,  a  paper  before  the  Royal  Historical  Society,  London,  by 
I.  N.  Arnold,  entitled  Abraham  Lincoln  (1881). 


THE  JUNIOB  PARTNER 17 

such  knowledge  begets,  he  was  led  to  say,  frankly,  that  those 
who  had  never  fallen  into  the  toils  of  the  vice  had  escaped 
more  by  lack  of  appetite  than  by  any  moral  superiority,  and 
that  taken  as  a  class,  drinking  men  would  compare  favorably 
in  head  and  heart  with  any  other  class.  This  was  as  a  red 
rag  to  the  more  intemperate  of  the  temperance  reformers,  to 
whom  drinking  was  a  crime  —  a  temper  of  mind  to  which 
Lincoln,  as  abstemious  in  habit  as  in  speech,  was  averse.  In 
deed,  his  pre-eminent  sanity  in  the  midst  of  extremists  was 
one  of  the  chief  attractions  of  his  life. 

By  this  time  Speed  had  made  the  awful  leap  into  matri 
mony,  and  Lincoln  was  anxious  to  know  his  fate.  His  letter 
of  inquiry,  which  between  any  other  two  men  would  have  been 
grossly  intrusive,  elicited  a  reply  so  startlingly  favorable  that 
he  could  hardly  credit  it.  He  himself  was  thinking  of  mar 
riage  again,  friends  having  brought  the  former  fiances  to 
gether  during  the  summer,  to  an  accompaniment  of  a  comic 
duel.  Lincoln  had  ridiculed  James  Shields,  a  Democratic 
politician,  in  an  anonymous  letter  in  the  Sangamon  Journal. 
Mary  Todd  and  her  friend  Julia  Jayne  —  afterwards  the  wife 
of  Lyman  Trumbull  —  added  to  the  fun  by  writing  other 
similar  letters  over  the  same  signature,  followed  by  some 
verses.  Shields  was  furious,  and  Lincoln,  to  protect  the 
women,  took  the  blame  of  it  upon  himself.  The  result  was  a 
challenge  to  fight  a  duel,  in  which  no  blood  but  much  ink  was 
spilled  —  a  performance  of  which  Lincoln  had  the  good  sense 
to  be  ashamed.  He  disliked,  in  later  years,  any  mention  of 
it.  On  November  4,  1842,  he  was  safely  married,  tormented 
by  his  old  morbid  misgivings  to  the  very  last.  He  lived  at 
the  Globe  Tavern,  kept  by  a  widow  of  the  name  of  Beck, 
paying  four  dollars  a  week  for  board. 

Hitherto  he  had  owned  a  horse,  and  was  fond  of  riding; 
but  he  made  a  poor  income,  as  he  confided  to  Speed,  and  was 
now  and  then  pinched  to  distress,  and  went  to  bed  with  no 
notion  of  how  he  should  meet  the  claims  of  the  morrow.  For 
nearly  one-fifth  part  of  his  life  he  owed  money  he  could  not 
pay,  and  while  of  easy  disposition,  debt  galled  him  and  has 
tened  his  wrinkles.  His  marriage,  though  not  without  its 


18 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDQN 

jars  —  as  might  have  been  expected  between  two  persons  so 
unlike  in  temper,  training,  and  habits  of  life  —  was  in  every 
way  advantageous  to  him.  It  whetted  his  industry,  did  not 
nurse  too  much  the  penchant  for  home  indolence  that  he  had, 
and  taught  him,  particularly,  that  there  was  such  a  thing  as 
society,  which  observed  a  man's  boots  as  well  as  his  princi 
ples.  He  was  always  a  loyal  and  reverent  husband,  a  gentle 
but  not  positive  father,  and  the  towering  ambition  of  his 
wife  out-topped  his  own.  It  was  at  the  old  Globe  Tavern 
that  his  first  son,  Eobert,  was  born.  Some  months  later  he 
purchased  a  house  on  Eighth  Street,  formerly  owned  by  a 
minister,  where  he  made  him  a  home.  A  narrow  yard  and 
palings  shut  it  from  the  street;  the  door  was  in  the  middle, 
and  was  approached  by  four  or  five  wooden  steps;  and  on 
the  abutment  beside  these  he  stood  after  his  nomination  in 
1860,  in  a  blaze  of  torches,  the  thunder  of  huzzas  breaking 
around  him,  the  only  solemn  man  in  Springfield. 

Ill 

Returning  to  Herndon,  we  find  him  studying  law  in  the  of 
fice  of  "  Logan  &  Lincoln,"  at  the  invitation  of  the  junior 
partner.  He  was  an  excellent  student  and  became  an  able 
attorney,  but  he  seems  never  to  have  liked  the  law.  Herndon 
was  a  strange  mixture  of  extremes,  complex  where  Lincoln 
was  simple ;  a  man  of  no  personal  dignity,  yet  gifted  and  lov 
able  ;  one  moment  talking  in  a  lofty  strain,  and  the  next  tell 
ing  yarns  that  smelled  of  the  barnyard ;  given  to  escapades  of 
sentiment,  yet  withal  sagacious  and  astute;  impetuous  and 
impulsive,  but  honest,  sincere,  and  loyal.  By  nature  an  en 
thusiast,  a  colorist,  and  a  radical,  he  embraced  at  one  leap  all 
the  social  reforms,  from  the  abolition  of  slavery  to  the  right 
of  woman  suffrage.  That  was  temperament.  All  through  his 
career,  after  it  had  a  beginning,  he  had  a  hard  fight  with  the 
drink  habit,  with  many  victories  and  occasional  bitter  defeats ; 
a  battle  which  Lincoln  watched  with  never-failing  pity.  That 
was  environment,  very  tragical  in  his  case,  and  characteristic 
of  the  period.  But  Lincoln  knew  Herndon,  his  abilities  and 


THE  JUNIOR  PARTNER 19 

his  failings,  his  qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  and  the  two  men 
loved  each  other  like  brothers  of  unequal  age. 

Lincoln  was  doubtless  looking  ahead  when  he  induced  his 
young  friend  to  take  up  the  study  of  law.  His  money  ar 
rangement  with  Judge  Logan  was  unsatisfactory,  especially 
after  his  marriage,  and  he  wished  to  set  up  for  himself  or'as 
the  head  of  a  firm.  Both  men  were  ambitious  to  go  to  Con 
gress,  and  there  had  been  friction.  Finally  an  understanding, 
more  tacit  than  formal,  was  reached  to  the  effect  that  Hardin, 
Baker,  Lincoln,  and  Logan  should  each  have  a  turn  at  the 
coveted  honor.  So,  at  least,  we  may  infer  from  the  letters  of 
Lincoln ;  but  such  an  agreement,  if  there  was  one,  did  not  pre 
clude  a  friendly  rivalry.  Lincoln  tried  to  get  the  nomination 
in  1842,  but  was  beaten  —  because  of  his  temperance  address, 
because  his  wife,  as  an  Episcopalian,  a  Todd,  and  akin  to  the 
Edwardses,  was  an  "  aristocrat, "  because  he  had  once  "  talked 
of  fighting  a  duel, ' '  and  because  he  was  held  to  be  a  deist,  if 
not  a  sceptic,  in  religion.  There  were,  besides,  "  political 
complications."  He  was  sent  as  a  delegate  in  behalf  of 
Baker,  which  was,  as  he  wrote  to  Speed,  ' '  a  good  deal  like  a 
fellow  who  is  made  groomsman  to  a  man  that  has  cut  him  out 
and  is  marrying  his  own  dear  gal."  But  Hardin  won  the 
nomination,  and  Lincoln  once  more  stood  aside,  reluctantly, 
in  1844,  in  favor  of  Baker.  At  any  rate,  the  reasons  for  the 
break  between  Logan  and  Lincoln  were  more  financial  than 
political.  Two  such  strong  natures  could  not  work  together, 
and  in  1843  their  partnership  was  dissolved. 

On  the  same  day,  September  20th,  the  firm  of  "  Lincoln 
&  Herndon  "  was  founded,  Lincoln  generously  dividing  the 
earnings  equally  with  his  junior  partner.  Looking  back 
through  the  years  at  a  partnership  which  was  as  much  a  per 
sonal  friendship  as  a  business  arrangement,  Mr.  Herndon 
wrote : 

I  confess  I  was  surprised  when  he  invited  me  to  become 
his  partner.  I  was  young  in  the  practice  and  was  pain 
fully  aware  of  my  want  of  ability  and  experience;  but 
when  he  remarked  in  his  earnest,  honest  way,  "  Billy,  I 
can  trust  you,  if  you  can  trust  me,"  I  felt  relieved  and 


20 


accepted  his  generous  proposal.  It  has  always  been  a  mat 
ter  of  pride  with  me  that  during  our  long  partnership,  con 
tinuing  on  until  it  was  dissolved  by  the  bullet  of  the  assas 
sin  Booth,  we  never  had  any  personal  controversy  or  dis 
agreement.  I  never  stood  in  his  way  for  political  honors 
or  office,  and  I  believe  we  understood  each  other  perfectly. 
In  after  years,  when  he  became  more  prominent,  and  our 
practice  grew  to  respectable  proportions,  other  ambitious 
practitioners  undertook  to  supplant  me  in  the  partnership. 
One  of  the  latter,  more  zealous  than  wise,  charged  that  I 
was  in  a  certain  way  weakening  the  influence  of  the  firm. 
I  am  flattered  to  know  that  Lincoln  turned  on  this  last 
named  individual  with  the  retort,  "  I  know  my  own  busi 
ness,  I  reckon.  I  know  Billy  Herndon  better  than  any 
body,  and  even  if  what  you  say -of  him  is  true  I  intend  to 
stick  by  him."  x 


Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  I,  p.  252. 


CHAPTER  II 

Lincoln  &  Herndon 

No  two  men  were  ever  more  unlike  in  temper  of  mind  and 
habits  of  thought  —  which  was,  no  doubt,  a  secret  of  their 
long  friendship.  Lincoln  was  a  conservative,  Herndon  a 
radical,  but  each  respected  the  views  of  the  other,  and  time 
taught  them  that  wisdom  lay  in  the  middle  path.  They  had, 
indeed,  much  in  common  besides  a  fraternity  of  sentiment, 
a  droll  humor,  and  a  disregard  of  details;  even  resembling 
each  other  in  ruggedness  of  frame  and  angularity  of  features 
—  both  faces  wearing  the  same  half -tender  melancholy,  the 
result,  perhaps,  of  a  lonely  pioneer  life,  a  habit  of  thoughtful 
abstraction,  and  a  disposition  to  share  the  sorrows  of  man 
kind. 

Some  men  feel  the  mystery  of  the  public  infirmity  like  a 
heavy  weight  of  personal  care,  and  both  Lincoln  and  Herndon 
were  of  that  quality.  Of  such  stuff  reformers  are  made,  but 
the  young  man  of  fiery  soul  and  fluent  speech  needed  the 
calm  and  wise  restraint  of  the  older  and  greater  man,  else 
he  had  been  a  fanatic.  And  it  must  be  said  that  Lincoln, 
though  he  had  within  him  a  slumbering  fire,  almost  volcanic 
when  deeply  stirred,  had  need  of  such  a  flaming  spirit  to 
keep  his  faith  aglow.  He  sat,  as  Herndon  said,  looking 
through  a  brief  to  the  iniquity  of  slavery,  and  the  moral  or 
der  of  God;  but  his  attitude,  if  not  hopeless,  was  unhopeful. 
Already  the  junior  partner  was  consorting  with  Abolitionists, 
reading  all  the  agitators,  and  advocating  the  most  radical 
ideas ;  his  senior  gravely  listening,  but  unconvinced.  To  Lin 
coln  the  national  abomination  seemed  impregnable,  and  he 
had  no  hope  of  living  to  see  its  entrenchments  crumble.  Thus, 
out  of  their  mutual  indignations,  hopes,  and  fears  they  edu 
cated  themselves,  each  in  his  own  way  —  one  to  a  grand  ab 
horrence,  the  other  to  a  grand  agency. 


22  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 


As  lawyers  they  were  advocates  rather  than  jurists — "case 
lawyers,"  in  the  phrase  of  the  craft  —  Herndon  being  little 
more  than  an  office-clerk,  as  he  tells  us  frankly,  during  the 
first  years  of  their  partnership.  Lincoln  once  said  that  he 
selected  Herndon  as  his  partner  thinking  him  to  be  a  good 
business  man  who  would  keep  his  office  affairs  in  order,  but 
soon  found  that  he  had  no  more  system  than  he  himself,  and 
was  in  reality  a  very  good  lawyer,  "  thus  proving  a  double 
disappointment."  No  one,  least  of  all  Herndon,  could  re 
duce  Lincoln  to  any  sort  of  order.  But  he  never  forgot  to 
divide  his  fees  with  his  young  partner,  paying  him  his  share 
at  once,  or  leaving  it  in  an  envelope  marked,  "  Herndon 's 
half."  They  kept  no  books.  The  firm  had  a  busy  though 
not  a  lucrative  practice  from  the  start,  appealing  thirty-three 
cases  to  the  Supreme  Court  the  first  year  —  a  good  record 
for  even  those  litigious  days.  But  what  was  better,  the  two 
men  worked  together  as  comrades,  lightening  the  drudgery 
of  the  office,  which  both  despised,  with  conversation  grave  and 
gay. 

Just  what  position  Lincoln  held  at  the  bar  in  these  early 
years  is  not  easy  to  know.  After  forming  his  partnership  with 
Herndon  —  whose  family  was  large  and  influential  —  he  ex 
tended  his  practice  somewhat,  but  he  did  not  travel  the  large 
circuit,  which  embraced  fifteen  counties,  until  later.  Whether 
on  the  circuit  or  at  Springfield,  where  the  federal  courts  were 
held,  he  was  pitted  against  men  of  unusual  ability  and  power, 
among  whom  were  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  0.  H.  Browning,  Nin- 
ian  Edwards,  E.  H.  Baker,  Judge  Logan,  and  others.  Some 
of  these  men  were  abler  lawyers  than  he,  especially  in  cases 
where  the  issues  hung  upon  technical  refinements  and  pure 
points  of  law  —  Judge  Logan,  in  this  particular,  being  the 
ablest  man  at  the  bar.  This  is  not  to  say  that  Lincoln  prac 
ticed  by  his  wits,  though  with  all  his  simplicity  and  honesty 
a  shrewder  mortal  has  seldom  lived.  Indeed,  he  would  have 
been  a  dangerous  man,  but  for  his  deep-seated  integrity  which 
was  ever  his  ruling  trait.  He  was  at  his  best  before  a  jury, 


LINCOLN  &  HEBNDQN 23 

where  his  knowledge  of  human  nature,  his  keen  logic,  and  his 
gifts  of  humor  and  mimicry  came  into  full  play,  and  where 
his  occasional  bursts  of  appeal  swept  all  before  him.  But 
the  law  is  a  jealous  mistress  and  coy  of  her  favors,  nor  does 
she  crown  those  who  serve  her  with  divided  allegiance. 

So  far  Lincoln  was  more  absorbed  in  politics  than  in  law. 
What  led  him  forward,  said  Herndon,  was  ambition,  ' '  a  little 
engine  that  knew  no  rest,"  which  strove  not  for  riches  but 
for  political  honors.  If  the  fire  burned  low,  his  wife,  who 
saw  greater  things  for  him  than  he  dared  dream,  added  fuel. 
In  1844  he  was  on  the  Whig  electoral  ticket,  and  not  only 
stumped  Illinois  for  Henry  Clay,  but  was  invited  to  Indiana 
and  had  the  satisfaction  of  speaking  at  Gentryville,  where  he 
had  lived  as  a  boy.  Amid  such  scenes,  touched  by  the  changes 
wrought  by  time  and  death,  he  fell  into  a  mood  of  melancholy, 
and  expressed  his  emotions  in  verse,  which,  if  not  poetical  in 
form,  was,  as  he  said,  poetical  in  feeling.  The  defeat  of  Clay, 
his  political  idol,  was  a  hard  blow,  all  the  more  so  after  so 
many  portents  of  victory;  but  his  grief  was  cooled  somewhat 
by  a  visit  to  his  hero,  who  received  him  with  a  stately  aristo 
cratic  courtesy,  gracious  indeed,  but  not  unmixed,  so  Lincoln 
felt,  with  a  certain  condescension  of  manner. 

At  last,  in  1846,  he  was  nominated  for  Congress,  and  there 
followed  a  contest  as  remarkable  for  religious  bigotry  as  for 
partisan  rancor.  His  opponent  on  the  Democratic  ticket  was 
Peter  Cartwright,  a  famous  evangelist  who  rode  the  Method 
ist  circuit  in  the  pioneer  era  —  a  picturesque  personality  and 
a  native  orator  of  many  popular  gifts.  Not  content  to  assail 
Lincoln  for  his  temperance  address,  the  fervid  exhorter 
charged  him  with  infidelity  —  an  accusation  more  serious 
then  than  now  —  going  back  for  proof  to  the  New  Salem  days, 
when  Lincoln  was  said  to  have  written  a  pamphlet  attacking 
the  Christian  religion  after  the  manner  of  Thomas  Paine.1 

i  Such  an  essay  was  written  by  Lincoln  in  his  early  days,  while  under 
the  spell  of  Volney,  Paine,  and  other  thinkers  of  that  school,  in  which  he 
argued  that  the  Bible  was  not  inspired  and  that  Jesus  was  not  the  son  of 
God.  He  carried  it  to  the  village  store,  where  it  was  read  and  freely  dis 
cussed;  but  his  employer,  Samuel  Hill,  snatched  the  manuscript  out  of 


24 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

These  tactics  so  enraged  Herndon,  who  plunged  into  the  fray 
with  all  his  ardor,  that  Lincoln  had  to  warn  him  not  to  re 
tort  in  kind,  lest  in  his  indignant  zeal  he  do  more  harm  than 
good.  Quietly  they  organized  the  Whig  forces,  using  political 
methods  as  against  religious  prejudice,  and  so  thorough  was 
the  canvass  that  a  few  days  before  the  end  Lincoln  could  say 
to  a  friend  of  the  other  party,  who  promised  to  vote  for  him 
if  it  seemed  necessary,  "I  have  got  the  preacher,  and  don't 
need  your  vote. ' '  The  Democrats,  mistaking  sound  and  fury 
for  a  rising  tide  of  sentiment,  were  sure  of  a  sweeping  victory. 
But  it  fell  otherwise ;  the  ' '  Sangamon  Chief, ' '  as  his  friends 
called  him,  receiving  a  majority  of  sixteen  hundred  and  elev 
en  ;  a  vote  greater  than  his  party  strength  —  greater,  indeed, 
than  that  of  Henry  Clay  two  years  before.  Herndon  was 
jubilant,  not  more  from  pride  that  his  partner  had  been  elect 
ed  to  Congress  than  that  the  spectre  of  religious  bigotry  had 
been  laid. 

Thereafter  Lincoln  was  prudently  reticent  in  matters  of 
religion,  except  to  Herndon  and  other  young  friends,  and 
even  with  them  he  talked  guardedly.  Superstition,  faith,  and 
doubt  were  strangely  blended  in  him,  uniting  a  sense  of  iron 
law  with  belief  in  luck  and  omens  as  portents  of  good  and 
evil  fortune.  So  far  as  is  known  he  formulated  no  system, 
though  he  was  quite  emphatic  in  his  denial  of  certain  doc 
trines  of  the  creeds  —  the  atonement,  for  example,  the  mir 
acles,  and  the  dogma  of  eternal  hell.  But  all  who  stood  near 
him  felt  that  in  a  poetic  and  mystic  way  he  was  profoundly 
religious,  even  if  the  cast  of  his  mind  made  many  things  dim 
to  him  which  were  clear  to  others.  If  one  would  know  Lincoln 
as  he  was,  one  must  keep  in  mind  his  "talent  for  growth," 
as  Horace  Bushnell  would  say,  and  watch  the  slow  unfolding 
of  his  faith.  For  surely,  as  far  as  a  man  may,  he  exemplified 
the  spirit  of  Jesus  in  his  life,  and  it  is  there  that  one  must 
look  for  the  real  religion  of  the  man. 

his  hands  and  put  it  into  the  stove.  —  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and 
Weik,  Vol.  II,  pp.  149-151. 

In  his  Autobiography  Peter  Cartwright  does  not  mention  the  canvass 
of  1846,  perhaps  because  he  was  not  proud  of  it. 


LINCOLN  &  HERNDQN 25 

Although  elected  to  Congress  in  1846,  Lincoln  did  not  take 
his  seat  until  December,  1847,  the  only  Whig  member  from 
Illinois.  The  Mexican  War  was  in  progress  and  one  of  his 
friends,  J.  J.  Hardin,  had  fallen  in  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista. 
Accompanied  by  his  wife  and  two  little  boys,  Robert  and  Ed 
ward,  he  set  out  for  Washington,  leaving  Herndon  to  take 
care  of  the  practice  of  the  firm.  The  Thirtieth  Congress  was 
an  able  and  industrious  body,  having  for  leaders  the  last  of 
the  giants  of  former  days  —  Webster,  Calhoun,  Clay,  and 
grand  old  John  Quincy  Adams,  who  died  in  his  seat  before 
the  end  of  the  session.  Douglas,  after  a  brilliant  career  in  the 
House,  was  now  for  the  first  time  a  member  of  the  Senate. 
From  the  South,  Calhoun,  Mason,  Hunter,  and  Jefferson  Da 
vis  were  in  the  Senate,  and  Stephens,  Toombs,  Rhett,  and 
Cobb  in  the  House.  Lincoln,  at  once  a  favorite  for  his  good- 
fellowship,  was  among  those  invited  to  the  breakfasts  given 
by  Webster,  where  he  met  Joshua  Giddings.  Owing  to  the 
war-policy  of  President  Polk,  the  Whigs  were  in  the  majority, 
and,  while  voting  supplies  to  the  army,  were  trying  to  make 
capital  out  of  the  victories  of  their  generals  in  the  field.  Such 
a  program,  however  artful,  was  not  without  its  pitfalls,  for 
it  is  perilous  while  the  fighting  is  going  on  to  cavil  about  a  na 
tional  war,  just  or  unjust.  By  this  method,  as  the  sequel 
showed,  Thomas  Corwin  dug  his  political  grave  in  the  Sen 
ate. 

Herndon  wrote  to  Lincoln  asking  him  to  send  the  Congres 
sional  Globe,  assuring  him  at  the  same  time  of  the  exalted  ex 
pectations  of  his  friends.  In  closing  his  reply,  after  giving 
instructions  about  the  payment  of  certain  debts  —  he  was  still 
paying  on  the  old  debt  incurred  by  the  purchase  of  the  store 
at  New  Salem  —  Lincoln  remarked  :  "As  you  are  all  so  anx 
ious  for  me  to  distinguish  myself,  I  have  concluded  to  do  so 
before  long."  Herndon  wrote  an  encouraging  letter,  report 
ing  among  other  things  the  rumor  of  a  wish  for  his  re-elec 
tion.  Lincoln's  reply  must  be  read: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Jan.  8,  1848. 

Dear  William : —  Your  letter  of  December  27  was  received 
a  day  or  two  ago.  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  trouble 


26 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

you  have  taken.  .  .  .  As  to  speech-making,  by  way  of 
getting  the  hang  of  the  House  I  made  a  little  speech  two 
or  three  days  ago  on  a  postoffice  question  of  no  general 
interest.  I  find  speaking  here  and  elsewhere  about  the 
same  thing.  I  was  about  as  badly  scared,  and  no  worse, 
as  I  am  when  I  speak  in  court.  I  expect  to  make  one  with 
in,  a  week  or  two,  in  which  I  hope  to  succeed  well  enough 
to  wish  you  to  see  it. 

It  is  very  pleasant  to  learn  from  you  that  there  are  some 
who  desire  that  I  should  be  re-elected.  I  most  heartily 
thank  them  for  their  kind  partiality ;  and  I  can  say,  as  Mr. 
Clay  said  of  the  annexation  of  Texas,  that  "  personally  I 
would  not  object  "  to  a  re-election,  although  I  thought  at 
the  time,  and  still  think,  it  would  be  quite  as  well  for  me 
to  return  to  the  law  at  the  end  of  a  single  term.  I  made 
the  declaration  that  I  would  not  be  a  candidate  again,  more 
from  a  wish  to  deal  fairly  with  others,  to  keep  peace  among 
our  friends,  and  to  keep  the  district  from  going  to  the  en 
emy,  than  for  any  cause  personal  to  myself;  so  that,  if  it 
should  so  happen  that  nobody  else  wishes  to  be  elected,  I 
could  not  refuse  the  people  the  right  of  sending  me  again. 
But  to  enter  myself  as  a  competitor  of  others,  or  to  author 
ize  any  one  so  to  enter  me,  is  what  my  word  and  honor 
forbid.  Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN. 

On  December  22nd  Lincoln  had  introduced  his  "  Spot  Reso 
lutions,"  so  named  because  after  quoting  the  words  of  Pres 
ident  Polk  that  the  war  had  been  justified  by  the  fact  that 
Mexico  had  "  invaded  our  territory,"  and  "  shed  the  blood 
of  our  citizens  on  our  own  soil, ' '  they  requested  the  President 
in  a  series  of  adroit  questions  to  inform  the  House  on  what 
spot  the  alleged  outrages  had  taken  place.1  Of  course  the 
request,  reviving  as  it  did  the  charge  that  Polk  had  tricked 
the  nation  into  a  war  at  the  behest  of  the  Slave  Power,  met 
with  silence  at  the  White  House.  Nor  was  the  silence  broken 


i  All  now  agree  as  to  the  relation  of  the  Polk  administration  to  the 
Mexican  War.  If  any  doubt  had  remained,  it  would  have  been  dispelled 
by  the  luminous  portrayal  of  the  facts  by  Dr.  Von  Hoist  in  his  Consti 
tutional  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  336.  The  rebuke  ad 
ministered  to  the  Democratic  party,  by  changing  its  majority  into  a 
minority,  deserves,  as  Von  Hoist  remarks,  "to  be  counted  among  the  most 
meritorious  proofs  of  the  sound  and  honorable  feeling  of  the  American 
nation. ' ' 


LINCOLN  &  HEBNDON 27 

when,  three  weeks  later,  Lincoln  called  up  the  resolutions 
and  spoke  in  their  support,  demanding  that  the  President  re 
ply  fully,  fairly,  and  candidly.  No  action  was  taken,  but 
the  speech  served  to  distinguish  its  author  by  exciting  the 
laughter  of  the  Democrats  and  evoking  a  murmur  of  protest 
in  the  Whig  ranks.  Elated  by  its  majority  in  the  House,  if 
not  dazzled  by  the  trophies  of  war,  the  Whig  party  had 
changed  front,  and  preferred  to  deny  rather  than  to  admit 
that  the  President  had  exceeded  his  power.  Others  held  that, 
since  the  war  was  closing,  the  criticism  was  belated.  Even 
his  friends  at  Springfield  felt  that  Lincoln  had  gone  too  far 
when  he  voted  for  the  Ashmun  amendment  to  the  supply  bill, 
which  affirmed  that  the  war  had  been  unjustly  and  unlaw 
fully  begun  by  the  President.  Herndon,  in  apprising  his 
partner  of  the  state  of  sentiment  at  home,  argued  that  Polk 
had  been  justified  by  a  threat  of  invasion,  and  that  his  action 
was  made  lawful  by  necessity.  A  letter  from  Lincoln  revealed 
at  once  his  willingness  to  stake  all  on  a  principle  and  his  de 
sire  to  be  understood  by  his  personal  and  political  friends : 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Feb.  1,  1848. 

Dear  William: — Your  letter  of  the  19th  ultimo  was  re 
ceived  last  night,  and  for  which  I  am  much  obliged.  The 
only  thing  in  it  that  I  wish  to  talk  to  you  at  once  about 
is  that  because  of  my  vote  for  Ashmun 's  amendment  you 
fear  that  you  and  I  disagree  about  the  war.  I  regret  this, 
not  because  of  any  fear  that  we  shall  remain  disagreed  after 
you  have  read  this  letter,  but  because  if  you  misunder 
stand  I  fear  other  good  friends  may  also. 

The  vote  affirms  that  the  war  was  "  unnecessarily  and 
unconstitutionally  commenced  by  the  President;"  and  I 
will  stake  my  life  that  if  you  had  been  in  my  place  you 
would  have  voted  just  as  I  did.  Would  you  have  voted 
what  you  felt  and  knew  to  be  a  lie?  I  know  you  would 
not.  Would  you  have  gone  out  of  the  House  —  skulked 
the  vote  ?  I  expect  not.  If  you  had  skulked  one  vote,  you 
would  have  had  to  skulk  many  more  before  the  end  of  the 
session.  Richardson 's  resolutions,  introduced  before  I  made 
any  move  or  gave  any  vote  upon  the  subject,  make  the  di 
rect  question  of  the  justice  of  the  war ;  so  that  no  man  can 
be  silent  if  he  would.  You  are  compelled  to  speak;  and 


28 


your  only  alternative  is  to  tell  the  truth  or  tell  a  lie.  I  can 
not  doubt  which  you  would  do. 

I  do  not  mean  this  letter  for  the  public,  but  for  you. 
Before  it  reaches  you  you  will  have  read  my  pamphlet 
speech  and  perhaps  have  been  scared  anew  by  it.  After 
you  get  over  your  scare  read  it  over  again,  sentence  by 
sentence,  and  tell  me  what  you  honestly  think  of  it.  I  con 
densed  all  I  could  for  fear  of  being  cut  off  by  the  hour 
rule ;  and  when  I  had  got  through  I  had  spoken  but  forty 
minutes.  Yours  forever,  A.  LINCOLN. 

Herndon  remained  unconvinced,  even  after  reading  the 
speech  sentence  by  sentence,  and  continued  to  argue  the 
question  in  his  letters,  but  he  taxed  his  wits  to  allay  the  dis 
content  in  the  district.  A  note  from  Lincoln,  dated  the  day 
following  the  above  letter,  showed  his  susceptibility  to  noble 
eloquence  and  the  half-melancholy  sentiment  evoked  by  it. 
Although  not  yet  forty  years  of  age,  his  sorrow-worn  spirit 
looked  upon  itself  as  already  old  and  weary: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Feb.  2,  1848. 

Dear  William : — I  just  take  my  pen  to  say  that  Mr.  Steph 
ens,  of  Georgia,  a  little,  slim,  pale-faced,  consumptive  man, 
with  a  voice  like  Logan's,  has  just  concluded  the  very  best 
speech  of  an  hour's  length  I  ever  heard.  My  old,  withered, 
dry  eyes  are  full  of  tears  yet.  If  he  writes  out  anything 
like  he  delivered  it,  our  people  shall  see  a  good  many  cop 
ies  of  it.  Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN. 

One  who  reads  that  speech  today  finds  it  replete  with  legal 
and  constitutional  lore,  with  moral  grandeur  and  righteous 
indignation,  and  tinged  with  such  glimpses  of  battle  and 
death,  and  needless  suffering  and  sorrow,  that  it  is  no  wonder 
that  men  wept  over  the  picture.1  From  that  time  forward 
Lincoln  never  ceased  to  admire  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  of 
Georgia.  They  did  not  meet  again  after  their  days  in  Con 
gress  until  the  memorable  Hampton  Roads  Conference,  in 
1865,  when  Stephens,  then  Vice-President  of  the  Confed 
eracy,  with  Campbell  and  Hunter,  met  President  Lincoln  and 
Secretary  Seward  in  behalf  of  peace.  After  traversing  the 
field  of  official  routine  to  no  purpose,  Lincoln,  still  the  old 
i  Abraham  Lincoln  in  1854,  by  Horace  White  (1908). 


LINCOLN  &  HEBNDON 29 

Whig  colleague,  took  Stephens  aside,  and,  pointing  to  a  paper 
he  held  in  his  hand,  said :  ' '  Stephens,  let  me  write  '  Union  ' 
at  the  top  of  the  page,  and  you  may  write  below  it  whatever 
else  you  please."1  Stephens  found  Lincoln  the  same  jovial, 
tolerant,  firm  friend,  but  a  changed  man :  — "  The  Union 
with  him  in  sentiment  rose  to  the  sublimity  of  a  religious 
mysticism.'"  One  of  the  best  pictures  of  Lincoln  in  Congress 
is  that  left  us  by  Stephens: 

I  knew  Mr.  Lincoln  well  and  intimately,  and  we  were 
both  ardent  supporters  of  General  Taylor  for  President  in 
1848.  Mr.  Lincoln,  Toombs,  Preston,  myself,  and  others 
formed  the  first  Congressional  Taylor  Club,  known  as  ' '  The 
Young  Indians,"  and  organized  the  Taylor  movement, 
which  resulted  in  his  nomination.  .  .  .  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  careful  as  to  his  manners,  awkward  in  his  speech,  but 
was  possessed  of  a  very  strong,  clear,  vigorous  mind.  .  .  . 
He  always  attracted  and  riveted  the  attention  of  the  House 
when  he  spoke.  His  manner  of  speech,  as  well  as  thought, 
was  original.  He  had  no  model.  He  was  a  man  of  strong 
convictions,  and  what  Carlyle  would  have  called  an  earnest 
man.  He  abounded  in  anecdote.  He  illustrated  every 
thing  he  was  talking  about  by  an  anecdote,  always  exceed 
ingly  apt  and  pointed,  and  socially  he  always  kept  his 
company  in  a  roar  of  laughter.2 

In  June  the  Whigs  met  in  national  convention  in  Philadel 
phia,  and  Lincoln  attended  as  a  delegate.  Henry  Clay  was 
still  his  ideal  statesman,  but  since  it  had  been  agreed  that  a 
military  hero  was  needed  to  steal  the  war-thunder  of  the 
Democrats,  he  supported  General  Zachary  Taylor,  dubious  as 
the  Whig  faith  of  Taylor  was  known  to  be.  No  platform  was 
adopted,  and  a  resolution  affirming  as  a  party  principle  the 

1  The  Compromises  of  Life,  by  Henry  Watterson,  pp.  164-6   (1903). 
This  statement  has  been  questioned,  but  it  rests  upon  the  authority  of  Mr. 
Stephens  himself,  who  related  it  to  Mr.  Watterson,  as  he  did  to  others, 
including  Mr.  Felix  de  Fontaine,  the  famous  Southern  war  correspondent, 
with  whom  he  passed  the  night  in  Eichmond  after  he  came  up  from  Hamp 
ton  Koads.     This  testimony,  with  the  Joint  Eesolution  to  be  passed  by 
Congress,  in  Lincoln's  handwriting,  appropriating  money  to  be  paid  the 
South  for  the  slaves,  would  seem  to  be  abundant  evidence. 

2  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  I.  N.  Arnold,  pp.  77,  78  (1884). 


30  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

Wilmot  Proviso  —  designed  to  exclude  slavery  from  territory 
acquired  from  Mexico—  was  repeatedly  voted  down.  It 
was  thus  evident  that  the  Whigs,  like  the  Democrats,  intended 
to  evade  the  slavery  issue,  and  Lincoln,  though  a  ' '  conscience 
Whig, ' '  seemed  willing  to  leave  that  question  in  abeyance  for 
the  sake  of  party  advantage.  He  returned  in  high  hope  and 
set  to  work  zealously  to  elect  the  ticket,  on  which  he  was 
named  as  an  elector,  predicting  victory  to  his  friends  and 
asking  them  to  make  Illinois  do  her  part.  A  gloomy  letter 
from  Herndon,  reporting  extensive  defections  in  the  party 
ranks,  pained  him,  but  did  not  cool  his  enthusiasm.  Instead, 
he  wrote  to  his  partner  urging  him  to  organize  a  band  of 
"  Young  Indians  "  in  Springfield,  and  giving  specific  in 
structions  how  to  do  it: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  June  22,  1848. 

Dear  William : —  The  whole  field  of  the  nation  was  scanned ; 
all  is  high  hope  and  confidence.  Illinois  is  expected  to 
better  her  condition  in  this  race.  Under  these  circum 
stances  judge  how  heart-rending  it  was  to  come  to  my 
room  and  find  and  read  your  discouraging  letter  of  the 
15th.  Now,  as  to  the  young  men.  You  must  not  wait  to 
be  brought  forward  by  the  older  men.  For  instance,  do 
you  suppose  that  I  would  ever  have  got  into  notice  if  I  had 
waited  to  be  hunted  up  and  pushed  forward  by  older  men  ? 
You  young  men  get  together  and  form  a  "  Rough  and 
Ready  Club,"  and  have  regular  meetings  and  speeches. 
Take  in  everybody  you  can  get.  Harrison  Grimsley,  L.  A. 
Enos,  Lee  Kimball,  and  C.  W.  Matheney  will  do  to  begin 
the  thing;  but  as  you  go  along,  gather  up  all  the  shrewd, 
wild  boys  about  town,  whether  just  of  age  or  a  little  under 
age  —  Chris  Logan,  Reddick  Ridgely,  Lewis  Zwizler,  and 
hundreds  such.  Let  every  one  play  the  part  he  can  play 
best  —  some  speak,  some  sing,  and  all  ' '  holler. ' '  Your 
meetings  will  be  in  the  evenings ;  the  old  men,  and  the  wo 
men,  will  go  to  hear  you ;  so  that  it  will  not  only  contribute 
to  the  election  of  "  Old  Zack,"  but  will  be  an  interesting 
pastime,  and  improving  to  the  intellectual  faculties  of  all 
engaged.  Don't  fail  to  do  this. 

Your  friend,  A.  LINCOLN. 

But  alas,  Herndon  was  too  profoundly  disgusted  with  the 
Whig  attitude  on  the  slavery  question  to  have  any  heart  in 


LINCOLN  &  HEBNDON 31 

the  business  of  organizing  a  ' '  Rough  and  Ready  Club. ' '  Un 
able  to  conceal  his  feelings,  he  permitted  an  interview  to  ap 
pear  in  one  of  the  Springfield  papers  in  which  he  took  a 
thoroughly  disheartened  view  of  the  situation,  intimating  that 
the  Whig  party  had  run  its  course.  He  clipped  the  inter 
view  and  sent  it  to  Lincoln,  accompanied  by  a  letter  telling 
of  the  dissatisfaction  in  the  district,  and  reflecting  rather  se 
verely  on  certain  ' '  old  fossils  in  the  party  who  are  constantly 
keeping  the  young  men  down."  Just  what  lay  behind  Hern- 
don's  complaint  is  not  quite  clear;  but  it  brought  a  character 
istic  reply,  valuable  for  its  homely  philosophy  and  as  a 
glimpse  of  the  relations  between  the  two  men: 

Washington,  D.  C.,  July  10,  1848. 

Dear  William : —  Your  letter  covering  the  newspaper  slips 
was  received  last  night.  The  subject  of  that  letter  is  ex 
ceedingly  painful  to  me ;  and  I  cannot  but  think  there  is 
some  mistake  in  your  impression  of  the  motives  of  the 
older  men.  I  suppose  I  am  now  one  of  the  older  men ;  and 
I  declare  on  my  veracity,  which  I  think  is  good  with  you, 
that  nothing  could  afford  me  more  satisfaction  than  to  learn 
that  you  and  others  of  my  young  friends  at  home  were  do 
ing  battle  in  the  contest,  and  endearing  themselves  to  the 
people,  and  taking  a  stand  far  above  any  I  have  ever  been 
able  to  reach  in  their  admiration.  I  cannot  conceive  that 
other  older  men  feel  differently.  Of  course  I  cannot  dem 
onstrate  what  I  say ;  but  I  was  young  once,  and  I  am  sure 
I  was  never  ungenerously  thrust  back.  I  hardly  know 
what  to  say.  The  way  for  a  young  man  to  rise  is  to  im 
prove  himself  in  every  way  he  can,  never  suspecting  that 
anyone  wishes  to  hinder  him.  Allow  me  to  assure  you  that 
suspicion  and  jealousy  never  did  help  any  man  in  any  sit 
uation.  There  may  sometimes  be  ungenerous  attempts  to 
keep  a  young  man  down ;  and  they  will  succeed,  too,  if  he 
allows  his  mind  to  be  diverted  from  its  true  channel  to 
brood  over  the  attempted  injury.  Cast  about,  and  see  if 
this  feeling  has  not  injured  every  person  you  have  known 
to  fall  into  it. 

Now,  in  what  I  have  said  I  am  sure  you  will  suspect 
nothing  but  sincere  friendship.  I  would  save  you  from  a 
fatal  error.  You  have  been  a  laborious,  studious  young 
man.  You  are  far  better  informed  on  almost  all  subjects 
than  I  have  ever  been.  You  cannot  fail  in  any  laudable 
object  unless  you  allow  your  mind  to  be  improperly  di- 


32 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

rected.  I  have  some  advantage  of  you  in  the  world's  ex 
perience  merely  by  being  older ;  and  it  is  this  that  induces 
me  to  advise.  Your  friend,  as  ever,  A.  LINCOLN. 

Two  weeks  later  Lincoln  delivered  a  speech  in  the  House  in 
behalf  of  Taylor,  in  which  he  attempted  to  justify  the  Whigs 
for  trying  to  make  capital  out  of  a  war  whose  injustice  and 
unconstitutionality  they  had  often,  and  even  passionately, 
denounced.  As  an  example  of  campaign  oratory  in  the  early 
West,  full  of  stump  vigor  and  racy  of  the  soil,  it  was  admir 
able,  and  for  its  purpose  effective,  but  quite  out  of  place  on 
the  floor  of  the  House.  Walking  up  and  down  the  aisles  — 
as  a  correspondent  of  the  Baltimore  American  described  him 
—  gesticulating  with  his  long  arms,  he  mingled  drollery,  wit, 
and  shrewd  party  appeals  with  pitiless  satire,  clever  cari 
cature  and  outrageous  illustration,  while  both  sides  roared 
with  laughter.  He  admitted  that  he  did  not  certainly  know 
what  Taylor,  a  slaveholder,  would  do  with  the  Wilmot  Pro 
viso,  and  added :  "  I  am  a  Northern  man,  or  rather  a  western 
Free-State  man,  with  a  constituency  I  believe  to  be,  and  with 
personal  feelings  known  to  be,  against  the  extension  of  slav 
ery.  As  such,  and  with  what  information  I  have,  I  hope  and  be 
lieve  that  General  Taylor,  if  elected,  would  not  veto  the  Pro 
viso.  But  I  do  not  know  it.  But  even  if  I  knew  he  would,  I 
still  would  vote  for  him,7'  not  only  as  against  General  Lewis 
Cass,  the  Democratic  candidate,  but  also  against  Martin  Van 
Buren,  the  nominee  of  the  Free-Soil  and  old  Liberty  parties, 
whose  platform  affirmed  the  principle  of  the  Proviso.  Party 
loyalty  could  not  go  further;  and  from  so  dubious  a  position, 
and  the  labored  and  ingenious  explanations  which  it  re 
quired,  he  was  glad  to  divert  attention  by  ridiculing  the  mil 
itary  career  of  General  Cass.  Withal,  there  was  an  infectious 
quality  in  his  rollicking  burlesque,  and  a  few  passages  may 
illustrate  a  style  of  speech,  at  once  "  Rough  and  Ready,"  in 
which  he  indulged  at  times,  though  less  frequently,  even  so 
late  as  1852 : 

But  the  gentleman  from  Georgia  (Mr.  Iverson)  further 
says,  we  have  deserted  all  our  principles,  and  taken  shelter 
under  General  Taylor's  military  coat-tail;  and  he  seems 


LINCOLN  &  HEBNDON 33 

to  think  this  is  exceedingly  degrading.  Well,  as  his  faith 
is,  so  be  it  unto  him.  But  can  he  remember  no  other  mil 
itary  coat-tail,  under  which  a  certain  other  party  have 
been  sheltering  for  near  a  quarter  of  a  century?  Has  he 
no  acquaintance  with  the  ample  military  coat-tail  of  Gen 
eral  Jackson?  .  .  .  Yes,  sir,  that  coat-tail  was  not  only 
used  for  General  Jackson  himself,  but  has  been  clung  to 
with  the  grip  of  death  by  every  Democratic  candidate 
since.  .  .  .  Mr.  Polk  himself  was  "  Young  Hickory," 
"  Little  Hickory,"  or  something  so;  and  even  now  your 
campaign  paper  here  is  proclaiming  that  Cass  and  Butler 
are  of  the  "  Hickory  stripe."  No,  sir,  you  dare  not  give 
it  up.  Like  a  horde  of  hungry  ticks,  you  have  stuck  to  the 
tail  of  the  Hermitage  lion  to  the  end  of  his  life ;  and  you 
are  still  sticking  to  it,  and  drawing  a  loathsome  sustenance 
from  it,  after  he  is  dead.  A  fellow  once  advertised  that  he 
had  made  a  discovery  by  which  he  could  make  a  new  man 
out  of  an  old  one  and  have  enough  of  the  stuff  left  to  make 
a  little  yellow  dog.  Just  such  a  discovery  has  General 
Jackson's  popularity  been  to  you.  You  not  only  twice 
made  Presidents  of  him  out  of  it,  but  you  have  enough  of 
the  stuff  left  to  make  Presidents  of  several  comparatively 
small  men  since ;  and  it  is  your  chief  reliance  now  to  make 
still  another. 

Mr.  Speaker,  old  horses  and  coat-tails,  or  tails  of  any 
sort,  are  not  such  figures  of  speech  as  I  would  be  the  first 
to  introduce  into  discussion  here;  but  as  the  gentleman 
from  Georgia  has  thought  fit  to  introduce  them,  he  and  you 
are  welcome  to  all  you  have  made  or  can  make  by  them.  If 
you  have  any  more  old  horses,  trot  them  out;  any  more 
tails,  just  cock  them  and  come  at  us.  .  .  .  By  the 
way,  Mr.  Speaker,  did  you  know  I  am  a  military  hero? 
Yes,  sir,  in  the  days  of  the  Black  Hawk  war  I  fought,  bled, 
and  came  away.  Speaking  of  General  Cass's  career,  re 
minds  me  of  my  own.  I  was  not  at  Stillman's  defeat,  but 
I  was  about  as  near  it  as  Cass  was  to  Hull 's  surrender ;  and, 
like  him,  I  saw  the  place  very  soon  afterward.  It  is  quite 
certain  I  did  not  break  my  sword,  for  I  had  none  to  break, 
but  I  bent  my  musket  pretty  badly  on  one  occasion.  If 
Cass  broke  his  sword,  the  idea  is,  he  broke  it  in  despera 
tion  ;  I  bent  my  musket  by  accident.  If  General  Cass  went 
in  advance  of  me  picking  whortleberries,  I  guess  I  sur 
passed  him  in  charges  upon  wild  onions.  If  he  saw  any 
live  fighting  Indians,  it  was  more  than  I  did,  but  I  had  a 
good  many  bloody  struggles  with  the  mosquitoes;  and,  al- 


34 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

though  I  never  fainted  from  loss  of  blood,  I  can  truly  say 
that  I  was  often  very  hungry. 

Such  a  harangue,  waggish  at  times  almost  to  the  point  of 
buffoonery,  is  not  edifying;  still  less  so  when  read  along 
side  his  solemn,  seer-like  words  ten  years  later;  but  it  shows 
us  the  politician  out  of  which  the  statesman  was  made.  Some 
have  thought  that  they  could  detect  a  tone  of  inner  protest 
underneath  the  exaggerated  humor  of  this  speech,  as  of  one 
who  felt  the  dissonance  of  his  position;  but  this  is  the  error, 
into  which  so  many  have  fallen,  of  reading  his  early  years 
in  the  light  of  after  time.1  No;  it  is  plain  that  Lincoln  had 
followed  his  party  into  a  state  of  discord  with  himself,  and 
with  his  true  destiny,  of  which  he  was  as  yet  hardly  aware, 
though  he  began  to  realize  it  when  he  went  campaigning  for 
Taylor  in  New  England  after  Congress  had  adjourned.  For 
the  sentiment  in  New  England  with  regard  to  the  Mexican 
war,  and  the  issues  involved  in  it,  as  vivified  by  Lowell  in 
"  The  Bigelow  Papers,"  required  something  more  than  bur 
lesque  to  convince  it. 

Lincoln  spoke  at  Worcester,  Lowell,  Dedham,  Roxbury, 
Chelsea,  Cambridge,  Boston,  and  other  cities,  where  his  in 
imitable  manner,  his  sagacious  party  pleas,  and  his  homely 
humor  delighted  large  audiences.  Such  reports  of  his  speech 
es  as  remain  show  that  he  did  not  at  any  time  rise  above  mere 
partisanship,  and  the  "Whig  press  gave  him  credit  for  winning 
back  to  the  fold  many  who  had  gone  off  after  "  the  Free-Soil 
fizzle."  At  Worcester,  amidst  pronounced  defection  from  the 
party,  he  argued  at  length,  according  to  the  Boston  Adver 
tiser,  against  the  charge  that  Taylor  had  no  political  princi- 

i  One  of  the  best  studies  of  the  making  of  Lincoln,  tracing  the  union 
in  him  of  the  Folk-soul  and  World-spirit,  is  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  D.  J. 
Snider  (1908).  It  is  "an  interpretation  in  Biography,"  as  the  subtitle 
indicates,  accurate  as  to  fact,  often  fanciful  in  inference,  but  always  sug 
gestive  of  the  saying  of  Socrates,  who  likened  man  to  a  tree  whose  roots 
run  up  into  the  unseen.  Only,  as  this  author  sees,  in  the  case  of  Lincoln 
the  roots  ran  both  ways,  down  into  the  rough  soil  of  the  early  West,  and 
up  into  that  mystical  realm  whence  great  souls  draw  their  strength  and 
charm.  Hence  a  medley  of  haunting  beauties  and  gnarled  angularities. 


LINCOLN  &  HERNDON  35 

pies ;  justified  the  Whigs  for  putting  forth  no  platform ;  held 
the  Free-Soil  position  with  regard  to  the  restriction  of  slavery 
to  be  that  of  the  Whigs  —  a  passage  he  would  hardly  have 
risked  before  the  Whig  Club  at  Washington,  of  which  Steph 
ens,  Preston,  and  Toombs  were  members;  ridiculed  the  single 
plank  in  the  Free-Soil  platform,  which  reminded  him  of  the 
Yankee  peddler,  who,  in  offering  for  sale  a  single  pair  of 
pantaloons,  described  them  as  "  large  enough  for  any  man, 
and  small  enough  for  any  boy;  "  criticised  the  followers  of 
Van  Buren  for  helping  to  elect  Cass,  and  to  their  plea  for  the 
right  and  duty  of  acting  independently,  ' '  leaving  the  conse 
quences  with  God,"  opposed  the  doctrine  —  which  he  held 
to  the  end  of  his  life  —  that  ' '  when  divine  or  human  law 
does  not  clearly  point  out  what  is  our  duty,  it  must  be  found 
only  by  intelligent  judgment,  which  takes  account  of  the  re 
sults  of  action."  Whig  papers  spoke  of  the  speech  as  "  mas 
terly  and  convincing,"  while  the  Free-Soil  report  described 
it  as  "  a  pretty  tedious  affair." 

As  he  went  further  into  New  England,  however,  Lincoln 
saw  the  real  spirit  and  nature  of  the  Free-Soil  protest.  After 
hearing  Governor  Seward  speak  in  Tremont  Temple,  Boston, 
when  they  were  together  at  the  hotel,  he  said :  "I  have  been 
thinking  about  what  you  said  in  your  speech.  I  reckon  you 
are  right.  We  have  got  to  deal  with  this  slavery  question,  and 
got  to  give  more  attention  to  it  hereafter  than  we  have  been 
doing. ' ' 1  On  the  fundamental  issue  of  the  injustice  and  bad 
policy  of  slavery  he  had  never  wavered,  but  beyond  the  dream 
of  gradual  emancipation  he  saw  no  way  of  dealing  with  it, 
except  to  push  it  back  into  a  corner  and  let  it  die.  At  Wash 
ington  the  question  had  not  seemed  imminent  or  urgent,  but 
in  New  England  it  loomed  like  an  ominous  shadow  upon  the 

iZ,t/e  of  Wm.  H.  Seward,  by  F.  W.  Seward,  Vol.  II,  p.  80  (1891). 
Once  in  his  law  practice  Lincoln  had  met  the  slavery  question  in  a  rather 
embarrassing  manner,  having  been  retained  by  a  slave-owner.  For  a 
history  of  this  case,  showing  his  half-heartedness  in  pleading  a  cause 
against  his  conscience,  see  an  article  entitled  ' '  Lincoln  and  the  Maston 
Negroes,"  by  Jesse  W.  Weik,  in  the  Arena,  April,  1897.  Mr.  Herndon 
contributed  to  the  fund  provided  to  transport  the  negroes  to  Liberia. 


36 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

horizon,  portentous  of  impending  storm,  and  the  gathering 
clouds  subdued  his  later  speeches  to  a  more  serious  tone. 

So  meditating,  Lincoln  started  home  late  in  September, 
stopping  at  Albany  where,  in  company  with  Thurlow  Weed, 
he  called  on  Millard  Fillmore ;  and  at  Niagara  Falls  —  con 
cerning  which  he  made  notes  for  a  popular  lecture.1  At  home 
he  found  things  in  a  bad  way  politically,  as  Herndon  had  duly 
forewarned  him.  The  Democrats,  determined  to  capture  the 
district  by  fair  means  or  foul,  were  using  his  opposition  to  the 
Mexican  war  to  defeat  Judge  Logan,  who  was  a  candidate  for 
his  seat  —  Lincoln  having  stood  aside  for  Logan  according  to 
agreement.2  The  story  was  that  Lincoln,  by  voting  for  the 
Ashmun  amendment  to  the  Supply  Bill,  had  refused  to  sup 
port  the  army  in  the  field,  thereby  betraying  his  country.  Of 
course  it  was  false ;  but  among  a  people  who  would  rather  be 
warlike  than  right  it  was  working  havoc,  and  so  industriously 
was  it  circulated  that  it  lived  to  confront  him  in  his  debates 
with  Douglas  ten  years  later  —  though  for  Douglas,  who 
knew  better,  there  was  no  excuse  for  such  tactics.  Thus, 
while  not  a  candidate  for  re-election,  Lincoln  was  forced  to 
defend  his  record  in  behalf  of  Judge  Logan;  and  the  result 
showed  that  he  could  have  had  a  second  term  had  he  sought 
it.  The  Whigs  carried  the  district  by  a  decided  majority,  the 
defeat  of  Logan  being  due  chiefly  to  his  own  unpopularity, 
and  not,  as  has  been  so  often  stated,  to  the  position  of  Lin- 

1  Like  all  travelers  Lincoln  was  impressed  by  that  supendous  spectacle, 
as  his  notes  show;  but  his  comment  to  Herndon  betrayed  no  more  suscep 
tibility  to  natural  grandeur  than  did  Walt  Whitman's  record  of  his  visit 
to  the  scene  the  same  year.     When  asked  what  most  impressed  him  when 
he  stood  before  the  Falls,  he  said :     ' '  The  thing  that  struck  me  most 
forcibly  when  I  saw  the  Falls,  was,  where  in  the  world  did  all  that  water 
come  from?"     To  Herndon,  who  was  an  enthusiastic  lover  of  nature  in 
all  her  moods,  this  reply  was  amazing  beyond  words. 

2  Of  such  an  agreement  there  is  little  doubt ;   the  letters  of  Lincoln 
show  it.     Besides,  in  giving  a  reason  why  Lincoln  was  not  a  candidate 
for  re-election,  J.  L.  Scripps,  his  first  biographer,  says  that  "this  was 
determined  upon  and  imblicly  declared  before  he  went  to  Washington,  in 
accordance  with  an  understanding  among  leading  Whigs  in  the  district. ' ' 
—  New  Torlc.  Tribune  Tracts,  No.  6,  p.  18  (1860). 


LINCOLN  &  HEBNDON 37 

coin  on  the  Mexican  war.  Mr.  Herndon  took  little  part  in 
the  campaign,  his  sympathies  being  with  the  Free-Soil  party, 
but  for  the  sake  of  his  partner  he  remained  a  loyal  Whig. 

While  the  election  of  Taylor  inspired  hopes  that  the  ex 
tension  of  slavery  might  be  checked,  as  a  fact  it  was  the  be 
ginning  of  that  re-alignment  of  forces  amidst  which,  as  a  pen 
alty  for  having  evaded  the  supreme  question  of  the  age,  the 
Whig  party  went  to  pieces.  Returning  to  Washington,  Lin 
coln  took  a  less  conspicuous  part  in  the  discussions  than  in 
the  former  session ;  but  he  stood  consistently  for  a  protective 
tariff,  for  the  right  of  Congress  to  prohibit  slavery  in  the  Ter 
ritories,  and  for  every  measure  looking  toward  the  gradual 
emancipation  of  the  slaves  which  provided  compensation  to 
their  owners.  The  Wilmot  Proviso  had  passed  the  House  in 
the  preceding  Congress,  and  had  been  killed  in  the  Senate. 
But  it  reappeared  in  various  shapes,  and  Lincoln  afterwards 
said  that  he  voted  for  it  in  one  form  or  another  ' '  about  forty- 
two  times  "  —a  reckoning  not  quite  accurate  mathematically, 
but  sufficiently  expressive  of  loyalty.  Not  liking  its  form,  he 
voted  against  the  Gott  resolution  asking  the  Committee  for 
the  District  of  Columbia  to  report  a  bill  prohibiting  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District.  When  it  again  came  before  the  House, 
he  offered  a  measure  as  a  substitute,  setting  forth  what  in  his 
view  was  just  and  practicable  at  that  time. 

This  bill  forbade  the  bringing  of  slaves  into  the  District, 
except  as  household  servants  of  government  officials  who  were 
citizens  of  Slave  States,  or  selling  them  to  be  taken  out  of  the 
District.  It  provided  that  children  of  slave  mothers  born 
after  1850  should  be  freed,  subject  to  a  temporary  apprentice 
ship,  and  the  payment  of  their  full  cash  value  to  the  owners 
by  the  government ;  fugitive  slaves  escaping  from  Washing 
ton  and  Georgetown  were  to  be  returned;  and,  finally,  the 
whole  measure  was  to  be  submitted  to  popular  vote  in  the  Dis 
trict.  So  staunch  an  Abolitionist  as  Joshua  R.  Giddings  sup 
ported  this  measure,  thinking  it  "  as  good  a  bill  as  we  can 
get  at  this  time,"  and  on  the  further  ground  that  it  would 
save  a  few  slaves  from  the  Southern  market.  Lincoln  actu 
ally  secured  a  promise  of  aid  from  W.  W.  Seaton,  editor  of 


38 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

the  National  Intelligencer  and  mayor  of  "Washington,  which 
gave  some  hope  of  success.  But  Southern  Congressmen,  fear 
ing  the  bill  as  an  entering  wedge,  won  the  mayor  to  their  side, 
leaving  Lincoln  and  Giddings  unable  even  to  bring  their  bill 
to  a  vote. 

On  the  whole,  Lincoln  seems  to  have  enjoyed  his  life  in 
Congress,  where  he  attracted  notice  by  his  quaint  simplicity 
of  manner,  as  when  he  was  seen  carrying  books  from  the  Li 
brary  of  the  Supreme  Court  tied  in  a  handkerchief  slung 
over  his  shoulder.  What  marred  his  peace  was  the  clamor  of 
importunate  office-seekers,  which  increased  after  the  Whig 
victory  until  it  became  an  annoyance,  not  without  entangle 
ments.  The  defeat  of  Judge  Logan  left  the  patronage  of  the 
district  in  his  hand,  and  even  after  his  term  had  expired  he 
was  often  besought  to  use  his  influence  to  obtain,  as  he  termed 
it,  "a  way  to  live  without  work."  Apparently  he  was  more 
successful  in  obtaining  office  for  others  than  for  himself,  ow 
ing,  as  Herndon  explains,  to  a  certain  unconscious  sense  of 
superiority  and  pride  which  unfitted  him  to  be  a  suitor  for 
place.  Having  lost  interest  in  the  law,  along  with  all  hope  of 
future  political  preferment,  he  tried  to  obtain  the  appoint 
ment  as  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  but  failed. 
This  was  a  keen  disappointment,  after  he  had  taken  so  active 
a  part  in  the  nomination  and  election  of  Taylor.  He  was, 
however,  offered  the  Governorship  of  the  new  Territory  of 
Oregon,  and  made  a  special  trip  to  Washington  to  discuss  the 
subject.  He  had  half  a  mind  to  accept,  but  his  wife  emphat 
ically  vetoed  the  suggestion,  and,  as  Herndon  adds,  "  that 
always  settled  it  with  Lincoln. ' '  Years  later  he  was  reminded 
that  had  he  gone  to  Oregon,  he  might  have  come  back  as 
Senator,  but  never  as  President.  "  Yes,  you  are  probably 
right,"  he  replied,  and  then  in  a  musing,  dreamy  tone,  as  if 
talking  to  himself,  he  added:  "  I  have  all  my  life  been  a 
fatalist.  What  is  to  be  will  be,  or  rather,  I  have  found  all  my 
life  as  Hamlet  says: 

"  '  There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough  hew  them  how  we  will. '  "  * 

i  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  I.  N.  Arnold,  p.  81  (1884). 


39 


No  doubt  it  was  a  divinity,  shaping  his  end.  that  sent  him 
back  to  Springfield  and  out  on  the  muddy  roads  of  the  old 
Eighth  Circuit,  a  saddened,  disillusioned,  and  disappointed 
man.  Politically,  he  seemed  to  himself,  indeed,  and  to  his 
friends,  a  man  without  a  future ;  but  that  was  less  important 
than  the  fact  that  he  was  not  prepared  for  the  future  that 
awaited  him.  Even  at  forty  he  was  singularly  immature ;  he 
had  not  yet  come  to  a  full  mastery  of  his  powers ;  and  the  con 
flicting  elements  in  his  nature  needed  to  be  melted  and  fused 
into  a  more  solid  unity.  As  has  often  been  pointed  out,  this 
came  at  last  with  the  emergence  in  him  of  a  vein  of  mysticism, 
which,  with  his  fine  sagacity  and  his  humane  pity,  more  and 
more  swayed  him,  softening  all  that  was  hard  within  and 
hardening  all  that  was  soft.  Of  this  we  are  sure:  when  he 
returned  to  public  life  in  1854,  as  a  living  voice  of  a  great 
cause,  he  was  a  changed  man,  moving  with  a  firmer  tread,  in 
one  way  simple  and  frank,  but  in  another  a  separate  and  de 
tached  soul  —  as  one  whose  eye  was  set  on  some  star  visible 
to  himself  alone. 

n 

After  an  absence  of  nearly  three  years  —  having  been  im 
mersed  in  politics  since  1846  —  it  was  with  some  reluctance 
that  Lincoln  resumed  the  practice  of  law.  His  term  in  Con 
gress  had  made  him  widely  known  in  the  State,  but  more  as 
a  stump-speaker  and  politician  than  as  a  lawyer,  and  he  had 
now  to  begin  almost  anew  and  make  his  way  at  the  bar.  He 
declined  a  partnership  in  a  Chicago  law  firm,  offered  by 
Grant  Goodrich,  on  the  ground  that  he  had  a  tendency  to 
consumption  and  feared  the  effect  of  city  life  upon  his  health. 
He  liked  best  the  journeying  life  of  the  circuit,  its  freedom, 
its  comradeship,  with  the  human  comedy  of  country  taverns, 
and  if  he  earned  smaller  fees  he  felt  much  happier.  Mr.  Hern- 
don  writes: 

Of  course,  what  practice  he  himself  controlled  passed  into 
other  hands.  I  retained  all  the  business  I  could,  and 
worked  steadily  on  until,  when  he  returned,  our  practice 
was  as  extensive  as  that  of  any  other  firm  at  the  bar.  Lin- 


40 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

coin  realized  that  much  of  this  was  due  to  my  efforts,  and 
on  his  return  he  therefore  suggested  that  he  had  no  right 
to  share  in  the  business  and  profits  that  I  had  made.  I 
responded  that,  as  he  had  aided  me  and  given  me  prom 
inence  when  I  was  young  and  needed  it,  I  could  afford 
now  to  be  grateful  if  not  generous.  I  therefore  recom 
mended  a  continuation  of  the  partnership,  and  we  went 
on  as  before.  I  could  notice  a  difference  in  Lincoln's  move 
ment  as  a  lawyer  from  this  time  forward.  He  had  begun 
to  realize  a  certain  lack  of  discipline  —  a  want  of  mental 
training  and  method.  Ten  years  had  wrought  some 
change  in  the  law,  and  more  in  the  lawyers,  of  Illinois.  . 
.  There  was,  of  course,  the  same  riding  on  circuit  as 
before,  but  the  courts  had  improved  in  tone  and  morals, 
and  there  was  less  laxity  —  at  least  it  appeared  so  to  Lin 
coln.  Political  defeat  had  wrought  a  marked  effect  in  him. 
It  went  below  the  skin  and  made  a  changed  man  of  him. 
He  was  not  soured  by  his  seeming  political  decline,  but 
still  he  determined  to  eschew  politics  from  that  time  for 
ward  and  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  law.  And  now  he 
began  to  make  up  for  time  lost  in  politics  by  studying  the 
law  in  earnest.  No  man  had  greater  power  of  application 
than  he.  Once  fixing  his  mind  on  any  subject,  nothing 
could  interfere  with  or  disturb  him.  .  .  .  It  is  proper  to 
add  that  he  detested  the  mechanical  work  of  the  office. 
He  wrote  few  papers  —  less  perhaps  than  any  other  man 
at  the  bar.  Such  work  was  usually  left  to  me  for  the  first 
few  years  we  were  together.  Afterwards  we  made  good 
use  of  students  who  came  to  learn  the  law  in  our  office.1 

Nor  did  Lincoln  confine  himself  to  the  study  of  law,  keenly 
as  he  felt  the  need  of  a  more  thorough  familiarity  with  its 
philosophy  and  history.  His  stay  in  Washington,  and  par 
ticularly  his  visit  to  the  East,  had  made  him  aware  of  the 
defects  of  his  early  training,  and  more  than  once  he  remarked 
to  Herndon  —  a  student  by  nature  and  a  wide  reader  by  hab 
it —  that  the  "  mast-fed  lawyer,"  as  he  described  himself, 
must  have  a  broader  basis  and  a  better  method  if  he  was  to 
compete  with  the  college  men  who  were  coming  to  the  West. 
Native  wit  and  a  flow  of  words  would  no  longer  win  at  the 
bar.  More  solid  qualities  were  required,  and  he  began  a 
course  of  rigid  mental  discipline  with  the  intent  to  improve 

1  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  1,  pp.  307-312. 


LINCOLN  &  HEENDON 41 

his  faculties,  especially  his  powers  of  logic  and  of  language. 
Hence  his  fondness  for  Euclid,  which  he  carried  with  him  on 
the  circuit  until  he  could  with  ease  demonstrate  all  the  prop 
ositions  in  the  six  books;  often  studying  far  into  the  night, 
with  a  candle  near  his  pillow,  while  his  fellow-lawyers,  half 
a  dozen  in  a  room,  filled  the  air  with  interminable  snoring. 
In  the  same  way  he  undertook  German,  but  seems  never  to 
have  attained  a  working  mastery  of  it.  Shakespeare  and  the 
Bible  he  read  devotedly,  parts  of  them  many  times,  as  much 
for  their  simple,  sinewy,  virile  style  as  for  their  wealth  of 
high  and  beautiful  truth.  This  study  of  great  books  bore 
fruit  in  a  more  delicate  literary  instinct,  a  finer  feeling  for 
words,  and  the  florid,  fiery  rhetoric  in  which  he  had  indulged 
in  his  early  years  became  an  aversion.  Therefore  his  advice 
to  Herndon,  which  that  ardent  man,  much  given  to  lofty 
metaphor,  could  neither  follow  nor  forget: — "  Billy,  don't 
shoot  too  high  —  aim  lower  and  the  common  people  will  un 
derstand  you.  They  are  the  ones  you  want  to  reach.  The 
educated  and  refined  people  will  understand  you  any  way. 
If  you  aim  too  high  your  ideas  will  go  over  the  heads  of  the 
masses,  and  only  hit  those  who  need  no  hitting. ' ' *  Years  of 
such  training  made  him  a  master  of  lucid,  direct,  vivid 
statement,  whether  he  was  arguing  a  case  in  a  justice  court 
or  pleading  a  cause  in  the  national  forum.  As  one  of  his 
friends  said,  without  waste  of  words  he  could  put  more  flesh 
on  the  skeleton  of  an  idea  than  any  other  man  of  his  day. 

Mid-summer  found  Lincoln  absorbed  in  the  law,  preparing 
for  work  on  the  circuit  in  the  autumn.  It  was  probably  at 
this  time  that  he  began  making  notes  of  cases  and  authorities 
in  a  quaint  little  memorandum-book  which  he  carried  in  his 

1  Reports  of  Lincoln's  reading  vary,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  know  the 
facts.  Herndon  says  that  he  read  less  and  thought  more  than  any  other 
man  of  his  day,  while  others  seem  determined  to  graduate  him  from  a 
university.  The  truth  lies  mid-way,  perhaps,  as  Prof.  Dodge  has  shown 
in  his  study  of  Abraham  Lincoln:  The  Evolution  of  His  Literary  Style 
(1900).  He  was  not  a  wide  reader,  apart  from  the  newspapers,  but  he 
read  carefully,  assimilating  the  essence  of  a  few  great  books.  His  habit 
of  committing  to  memory  bits  of  poetry  made  his  range  of  reading  appear 
more  extensive  than  it  really  was. 


42 


pocket,  and  which  on  the  circuit  served  as  a  ready  reference 
when  it  was  not  possible  to  consult  law  reports.1  His  figure, 
garbed  in  black,  was  familiar  in  Springfield  as  he  strode 
along,  usually  with  one  of  his  boys  struggling  to  keep  up,  be 
tween  his  home  on  Eighth  Street  and  his  office  on  the  Square. 
The  office  of  the  firm  was  on  the  second  floor  of  a  brick  build 
ing  just  across  from  the  court  house  —  a  large  back  room, 
afterwards  divided  into  two  rooms,  with  windows  overlooking 
stable-roofs,  ash-heaps,  and  dingy  back  yards.  Two  baize- 
covered  tables,  a  few  chairs,  a  cot,  an  old  fashioned  "  secre 
tary,"  and  a  book-case  containing  perhaps  two  hundred  law- 
books,  made  up  the  furnishings.  Few  books  were  needed,  as 
the  state-house  library  was  nearby  for  reference  when  other 
sources  of  information  failed.  Rarely  has  an  office  been  con 
ducted  with  less  method.  Lincoln  carried  most  of  his  mem 
oranda  in  his  high  "  stove-pipe  "  hat,  together  with  bits  of 
poetry  and  other  items  clipped  from  the  newspapers,  of  which 
he  was  an  assiduous  reader  —  sometimes  to  the  annoyance  of 
his  partner.  Often  he  would  have  to  hunt  for  lost  documents, 
and  upon  one  of  the  bundles  which  littered  his  desk  he  wrote, 
"  When  you  can't  find  it  anywhere  else,  look  in  this."  What 
order  there  was  came  when  some  student  clerk,  unable  to  en 
dure  the  confusion,  undertook  to  sweep  the  room  and  sort  the 
papers.  Several  years  later  John  H.  Littlefield,  in  cleaning 
up  the  office,  found  a  quantity  of  Congressional  garden  seed 
mixed  with  Whig  speeches  and  Abolitionist  pamphlets,  and 
some  of  the  seed  had  sprouted  in  the  accumulated  dirt.  He 
has  left  us  vivid  memories  of  the  two  men,  both  of  whom  had 
minds  too  broad  and  grave  for  the  details  of  life. 

In  many  partnerships  there  is  one  man  who  is  all  gentle 
ness  and  geniality,  who  would  if  he  could;  and  another  man 
on  whom  devolves  the  rough  work;  whose  "  No  "  is  all  the 
harder  for  the  air  of  mild  benignity  which  sits  so  well  on  his 
colleague.  One  who  attends  to  the  nether  side  of  the  practice 
must  be  content  to  be  thought  harsh  and  unapproachable,  to 

i  This  memorandum-book  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Jesse  W. 
Weik,  of  Greencastle,  Indiana,  to  whose  courtesy  and  kindness  all  Lincoln 
students  are  indebted. 


"      HH 


LINCOLN  &  HEBNDQN 43 

be  misunderstood,  if  not  maligned.  The  firm  of  "  Lincoln  & 
Herndon"  lacked  such  a  man,  neither  partner  having  the  sat 
urnine  grimness,  or  the  brusque  aloofness,  for  such  a  part; 
though  Herndon  would  have  made  a  better  attempt  at  it  had 
not  his  partner,  who  loved  men  more  than  money,  interfered. 
If  he  brought  suit  for  a  fee  and  obtained  judgment,  the  vic 
tim  would  hunt  up  Lincoln  and  by  means  of  a  skilfully  woven 
tale  of  distress  secure  release.  Lincoln  made  such  small 
charges  for  his  services  that  Herndon,  and  even  Judge  Davis, 
expostulated  with  him,  but  to  no  purpose.  He  could  not  be 
induced  to  sue  for  a  fee,  except  in  rare  instances  when  a  cli 
ent,  able  to  pay,  was  obviously  trying  to  defraud  the  firm. 
Though  his  name  appears  in  the  Illinois  reports  in  one  hun 
dred  and  seventy-three  cases,  his  income  was  never  more  than 
two  or  three  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Twice  in  later  years  — 
as  attorney  for  the  Illinois  Central  Railway  Company,  and  in 
the  McCormick  reaper  patent  litigation  —  he  received  what 
were  then  called  large  fees;  but  during  the  first  four  years 
after  he  left  Congress  he  was  often  hard  pressed  for  money. 
His  father  had  moved  three  times,  and  when  he  died  in  1851, 
there  was  a  mortgage  on  the  farm  in  Coles  County  to  be 
raised,  his  mother  to  help,  and  a  shiftless  step-brother  to  ad 
vise  in  letters  plain-spoken  and  quaintly  wise.  But  he  worked 
hard,  and  rapidly  developed  into  one  of  the  best  trial  lawyers 
in  the  state. 

Law  practice  was  more  difficult  then  than  now,  by  reason 
of  the  dearth  of  authority  and  the  necessity  of  reasoning  out 
cases  upon  original  principles.  Young  men,  especially,  were 
at  a  disadvantage  in  intricate  cases,  and  the  habit  was  gen 
eral  of  employing  leaders  of  the  bar  from  a  distance.  Hence 
the  circuit-riding  practice.  Local  attorneys  were  retained  to 
work  up  the  cases  and  prepare  the  papers  awaiting  the  ar 
rival  of  the  journeying  bar,  from  among  whom  litigants  would 
select  their  champions.  Such  a  practice  was  admirably  suited 
to  the  peculiar  genius  of  Lincoln,  relieving  him  of  details, 
which  he  detested,  and  giving  free  play  to  his  powers  of  logic, 
of  strategy,  and  of  humor.  While,  as  a  lawyer,  he  was  not 
learned,  all  agreed  that  he  was  able,  skilful,  and  just,  singu- 


44 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

larly  lucid  in  stating  a  case,  courteous  but  searching  in  ex 
amining  witnesses,  forceful  and  sagacious  in  argument,  and 
when  the  ease  turned  upon  human  or  moral  issues  one  of  the 
most  persuasive  advocates  at  the  bar.  Quick  in  taking  cases 
into  his  mind,  having  a  remarkable  memory  for  evidence,  if 
he  found  beneath  the  facts  a  human  principle,  his  heart 
warmed  in  the  work  of  developing  it.  At  times  he  would  se 
clude  himself  while  revolving  some  question  raised  by  a  vil 
lage  client,  which  had  expanded  into  a  great  human  problem, 
and  he  never  failed  to  present  it  so  vividly  that  dull  minds 
grew  alert  and  shrewd  ones  absorbed.  His  presence  was  com 
manding,  with  a  certain  modest  dignity  not  easily  denned,  and 
the  spell  of  his  marvelous  personality  gave  him  a  subtle,  al 
most  occult  power  over  juries.  Sometimes,  though  not  often, 
his  humor  won  the  case,  as  when  he  rebutted  a  charge  of 
trespass  by  an  inimitable  description  of  the  perplexity  of  a 
wandering  pig  which  found  the  fence  of  the  plaintiff  so  crook 
ed  that  it  invariably  came  out  on  its  own  side.  But  he  was 
not  always  mild,  not  always  funny,  and  when  he  was  angry 
it  was  a  terrible  spectacle.  Outside  the  court  room  he  talked 
politics,  told  stories,  played  pranks,  and  now  and  then  slipped 
away  from  his  fellows  to  walk  alone,  with  his  lips  close  shut, 
softly  humming,  and  returned  strangely  sad  and  exhausted. 
Twice  a  year,  spring  and  autumn,  the  lawyers  started  out 
on  the  circuit,  following  the  train  of  Judge  David  Davis, 
massive  and  able,  and  Lincoln  seems  to  have  been  almost  the 
only  one  who  went  the  rounds  of  the  circuit.  Herndon  was 
out  with  him  about  one-fourth  of  the  time  —  long  enough  to 
learn  that  life  on  the  circuit  was  a  gay  one,  and  that  Lincoln 
loved  it  —  and  he  has  left  us  vivid  pictures  of  dramatic  court 
scenes,  of  famous  murder  trials,  of  parleying  lawyers  and 
lying  witnesses ;  of  the  camaraderie  of  country  taverns  where 
judge  and  jury,  lawyers  and  litigants,  and  even  prisoners,  sat 
at  table  together;  of  a  long,  gaunt  figure  stretched  upon  beds 
too  short  for  him,  his  feet  hanging  over  the  foot-board,  his 
head  propped  up,  poring  over  the  Elements  of  Euclid;  of 
Bttry-telling  jousts  that  continued,  amidst  roars  of  laughter, 
far  into  the  night.  Herndon  looked  after  the  business  in 


LINCOLN  &  HERNDON  45 

Springfield,  while  Lincoln,  when  he  set  out  on  a  tour  of  the 
circuit,  which  kept  him  away  for  months,  continued  to  the 
end,  rarely  returning  home  to  spend  the  Sabbath  with  his 
family. 

Nothing  could  be  duller  than  remaining  on  the  Sabbath 
in  a  country  inn  of  that  time  after  adjournment  of  court. 
Good  cheer  had  expended  its  force  during  court  week,  and 
blank  dullness  succeeded;  but  Lincoln  would  entertain  the 
few  lingering  roustabouts  of  the  barroom  with  a.s  great  zest, 
apparently,  as  he  had  previously  entertained  the  court  and 
bar,  and  then  would  hitch  up  his  horse,  "  Old  Tom,"  as 
he  was  called,  and,  solitary  and  alone,  ride  off  to  the  next 
term  in  course.  One  would  naturally  suppose  that  the 
leading  lawyer  of  the  circuit,  in  a  pursuit  which  occupied 
nearly  half  his  time,  would  make  himself  comfortable,  but 
he  did  not.  His  horse  was  as  raw-boned  and  weird-looking 
as  himself,  and  his  buggy,  an  open  one,  as  rude  as  either; 
his  attire  was  that  of  an  ordinary  farmer  or  stock-raiser, 
while  the  sum  total  of  his  baggage  consisted  of  a  very  at 
tenuated  carpetbag,  an  old  weather-beaten  umbrella,  and  a 
short  blue  cloak  reaching  to  his  hips  —  a  style  which  was 
prevalent  during  the  Mexican  War.1 

Reminiscence  lies  warm  upon  the  life  of  Lincoln;  upon  no 
part  of  it,  perhaps,  so  warmly  as  upon  these  circuit-riding 
years.  Books  dealing  with  this  period  glow  with  picturesque 
and  humorous  memories,2  leaving  the  impression  that  what 
joy  there  was  in  a  life  destined  to  great  sacrifice  was  found 
on  the  old  Eighth  Circuit.  Too  often  he  has  been  portrayed, 
perhaps  unconsciously,  as  a  mere  story-teller,  which  was  as 
far  as  possible  from  the  truth,  though  it  is  true  that  his 
humor  was  brightest  when  his  heart  was  most  forlorn.  That 
may  account,  in  part,  for  the  memories  of  these  years  of  pov 
erty,  obscurity,  and  baffled  ambition,  humor  being  his  re- 

1  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  W.  C.  Whitney  (1892). 

2  Of  these,  Life  on  the  Circuit  with  Lincoln,  by  W.  C.  Whitney  (1892), 
is  doubtless  the  best,  though  it  has  been  criticized  as  exploiting  a  kind  of 
Damon  and  Pythias  intimacy  between  Lincoln  and  Whitney,  of  which  the 
old  Illinois  friends  of  Lincoln  were  unaware;  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  I.  N. 
Phillips,  Appendix   (1901);   while  the  legal  aspects  of  the  circuit-riding 
practice  have  been  admirably  portrayed  by  F.  T.  Hill,  Lincoln  the  Law 
yer  (1906). 


46  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

laxation  from  irksome  toil  without  and  pressing  thoughts 
within.  But  he  was  fundamentally  serious  and  a  man  of 
dignity,  and  while  men  spoke  of  him  as  "  Old  Abe  "  behind 
his  back,  in  his  presence  they  indulged  in  no  uncouth  famil 
iarities.  His  humor  —  and  it  was  humor  rather  than  wit, 
for  he  was  essentially  a  poet  and  a  man  of  pathos  —  lay 
close  to  that  profound  and  inscrutable  melancholy  which 
clung  to  him  and  tinged  all  his  days  —  the  shadow,  perhaps, 
of  some  pre-natal  gloom,  woven  in  the  soul  of  his  mother, 
and  deepened,  no  doubt,  by  a  temperament  which  felt  the 
tragedy  in  mortal  things.  It  was  not  for  his  humor  that  men 
loved  him,  nor  yet  for  his  intellect  with  its  blend  of  integrity 
and  shrewdness,  which  all  admired,  but  for  his  manliness,  his 
simplicity,  his  sympathy,  and  for  much  else  which  we  feel 
even  now  and  cannot  put  into  words.  To  this  day,  men  who 
were  close  to  Lincoln  have  a  memory  as  of  something  too 
deep  for  speech.  They  recount  his  doings,  they  recall  his 
words,  they  laugh  at  his  stories,  but  they  always  leave  some 
thing  untold:  only  a  light  comes  into  their  eyes,  and  one 
realizes  what  a  well-founded  reverence  is. 

Of  the  inner  life  of  Lincoln  during  these  buried  years  — 
from  1849  to  1854  —  few  glimpses  remain,  but  they  are 
enough  to  show  that  it  was  a  time  of  revolution  and  crisis. 
Mentally  he  was  occupied  as  never  before  with  those  ques 
tions  which  every  man,  soon  or  late,  must  settle  for  himself; 
that  he  met  and  made  terms  with  them  is  certain,  but  by  what 
process  we  know  not.  "What  we  do  know  is  that  he  loved  the 
old  Eighth  Circuit  and  the  comradeship  of  the  men  with 
whom  he  journeyed.  There  he  traveled  with  Leonard  Swett, 
Judge  Logan,  E.  H.  Baker,  O.  H.  Browning,  Richard  J. 
Oglesby,  John  M.  Palmer,  and  others,  and  the  friendships 
formed  were  enduring.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  was 
"  a  small  group  of  fellow-practitioners  on  the  Eighth  Cir 
cuit —  Davis,  the  judge;  Swett,  the  advocate;  and  Logan, 
the  leader  of  the  bar,  but  especially  Davis  —  who  forced  Lin 
coln  upon  the  Chicago  Convention  in  1860,  and  thus  gave  him 
to  the  nation. ' ' 1  Nor  do  we  forget  that  it  was  largely  the 

i  Lincoln  the  Lawyer,  by  F.  T.  Hill,  p.  195  (1906). 


LINCOLN  &  HEBNDON 47 

influence  of  old  associations,  which  he  could  never  entirely 
resist,  that  led  him,  in  1862,  to  appoint  Judge  David  Davis 
Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  To  the  end  of  his 
life,  amidst  the  whirl  of  politics  and  the  storm  of  war,  those 
circuit-riding  days  were  invested  for  him  with  a  grave  and 
joyous  memory. 

Ill 

Those  were  great  days  in  the  National  Senate,  where  the  giants 
of  a  former  era  were  wrestling  with  the  problem  which  was 
to  rend  the  nation.  Voices  of  union  and  disunion  clashed 
and  echoed  afar :  Calhoun  calling  for  war  in  the  name  of  the 
South ;  Webster,  for  the  sake  of  the  Union,  turning  his  back 
on  the  cause  of  Abolition;  Seward  announcing  a  law  higher 
than  that  even  of  the  Constitution ;  Douglas  maneuvering  for 
advantage;  and  central  among  them  all,  the  fiery,  pathetic, 
fascinating  figure  of  Clay,  using  all  the  resources  of  his 
genius,  and  all  the  influence  of  his  extraordinary  personality, 
in  behalf  of  National  Unity.  It  was  the  end  of  an  epoch,  the 
last  effort  of  the  old  masters,  in  conflict  with  new  leaders,  to 
solve  a  riddle  which  had  vexed  the  Republic  from  the  earli 
est  years. 

Out  of  the  stormy  debate,  which  strained  the  nation  to  its 
utmost  tension,  emerged  the  Compromise  of  1850,  the  vale 
dictory  triumph  of  Henry  Clay.1  By  the  terms  of  that  com 
pact,  California  became  a  free  State ;  Utah  and  New  Mexico 
were  organized  as  Territories,  without  attaching  to  them  the 
proviso  excluding  slavery ;  North  Texas  was  to  be  reorganized, 

i  Henry  Clay  died  feeling  that  the  principle  of  Compromise  was  tri 
umphant,  and  his  closing  eyes  saw  little  sign  of  the  storm  clouds  in  the 
sky.  The  main  purpose  of  his  life,  he  declared,  was  not  that  one  often 
accredited  to  him — to  be  elected  President — but  that  expressed  in  the 
words:  "If  any  man  desires  to  know  the  leading  and  paramount  object 
of  my  public  life  the  preservation  of  the  Union  will  furnish  him  the  key. ' ' 
—  Henry  Clay,  by  T.  H.  Clay  (1910).  "In  later  years  it  was  recalled  as 
a  matter  of  dramatic  significance  that  Henry  Clay,  'Compromise  incar 
nate,'  tottered  from  the  Senate  chamber  for  the  last  time  the  day  that 
Charle*  Sumner,  '  Conscience  incarnate, '  entered  its  doors. ' '  —  Charles 
Sum-ner,  by  G.  H.  Haynes  (1910). 


48 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

and  slavery  extended  over  it;  and  Texas  was  to  be  paid  ten 
million  dollars  for  her  relinquishment  of  New  Mexico.  Also, 
the  domestic  slave  trade  was  prohibited  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  a  new  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  cruel  and  stringent 
in  its  provisions,  was  to  be  enacted.  This  measure  was  held 
to  be  a  master  stroke  of  domestic  diplomacy,  and  the  leaders 
drew  up  and  signed  a  paper  to  the  effect  that  there  should  be 
no  more  agitation,  and  pledging  each  other  to  oppose  any 
men  who  should  mar  the  peace  of  the  land.  So  once  more, 
it  was  fondly  believed,  that  tormenting  shade  had  been  put 
to  its  final  rest. 

We  who  are  wise  after  the  fact  wonder  why  more  men  of 
that  day  did  not  discern,  what  is  now  so  obvious,  that  the 
dualism  of  the  nation  could  not  endure.  Into  the  heart  of 
the  Compact  of  1850  had  crept  the  fatal  principle  of  non-in 
terference  by  Congress  with  slavery  in  the  Territories,  which 
was  destined,  under  the  seductive  title  of  "  popular  sov 
ereignty,"  with  Douglas  as  its  champion,  to  undo  the  healing 
work  of  years.  Added  to  this  was  the  growing  tendency  in 
the  South,  complained  of  by  Webster,  to  regard  slavery,  not 
as  it  was  regarded  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic,  as  an 
evil  to  be  gradually  extinguished,  but  as  an  institution  to  be 
cherished,  and  preserved,  and  extended.1  Other  causes  con 
tributed  to  the  alarm  in  the  minds  of  far-sighted  men,  chief 
among  them  being  the  passionate,  palpitating  feeling  which 
found  voice  in  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  by  Harriet  Beecher 
Stowe  —  whom  Lincoln  once  introduced  as  ' '  the  little  wo 
man  who  caused  the  war"-  — which  began  as  a  serial  in  the 
National  Era  in  1851.  That  flaming  story  revealed,  in  the 
light  of  a  flash,  what  a  crucifying  edict  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  was  to  many  people  in  the  North.  Many  felt  that  be 
cause  it  was  the  law  of  the  land  they  must  not  resist  it,  but 

i  See  Virginia's  Attitude  Toward  Slavery  and  Secession,  by  B.  B. 
Munford  (1909),  a  book  of  real  original  research  based  upon  a  careful 
study  of  historical  sources — manuscripts,  public  records,  and  newspapers — 
in  which  the  reactionary  attitude  of  Southern  men  is  shown  to  have  been 
largely  due  to  the  agitation  of  radical  Abolitionists  in  the  North.  The 
book  is  valuable  for  its  point  of  view  and  its  armory  of  facts. 


LINCOLN  &  HEBNDON  49 

obey  it  they  could  not.  Such  was  the  mood  of  the  nation, 
aggravated  by  a  temperance  crusade  and  the  beginnings  of  the 
Kuow-Nothing  fanaticism,  when  it  entered  the  campaign  of 
1852. 

Seldom  have  political  parties  appealed  to  the  country  with 
a  less  vital  issue  than  that  over  which  the  followers  of  Frank 
lin  Pierce  and  General  Scott  were  divided.  Both  parties,  se 
curely  muzzled  by  the  Slave  Power,  vied  with  each  other  in 
courting  the  Southern  vote,  by  insisting,  in  their  platforms, 
that  the  Compact  of  1850  was  final,  and  that  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  must  be  enforced.  Despite  the  flow  of  rhetoric 
about  union  and  prosperity,  all  who  had  eyes  to  see  knew  that 
it  was  a  campaign  of  futile  evasion.  Newspaper  wits  are  of 
ten  prophets.  One  sceptic  expressed  in  verse  his  doubts  about 
the  various  attempts  to  kill  the  slavery  question,  which  were 
indeed  not  unlike  the  policy  of  the  ancients  who  conceived  of 
the  earth  as  flat  and  resting  upon  the  back  of  a  tortoise,  which 
in  turn  reposed  upon  a  coiled  serpent.  When  asked  about 
the  serpent,  they  declared  an  end  of  inquiry  and  said  it  was 
all  right  any  way.  Hence  the  misgivings  of  the  wit : 

To  kill  twice  dead  a  rattlesnake, 
And  off  his  scaly  skin  to  take, 
And  through  his  head  to  drive  a  stake, 
And  every  bone  within  him  break, 
And  of  his  flesh  mince-meat  to  make; 
To  burn,  to  sear,  to  boil  and  bake, 
Then  in  a  heap  the  whole  to  rake, 
And  over  it  the  besom  shake, 
And  sink  it  fathoms  in  the  lake, 
Whence  after  all  quite  wide  awake 
Comes  back  that  very  same  old  snake.1 

Lincoln  emerged  from  his  obscurity  long  enough  to  make  a 
few  languid  speeches  for  Scott  and  to  pronounce  a  eulogy  of 
Henry  Clay,  who  died  in  June  of  that  year.  His  speeches 
in  behalf  of  Scott  were  marked  more  by  jealousy  of  Doug 
las  —  then  for  the  first  time  a  national  figure,  pampered,  flat 
tered,  and  pluming  himself  for  the  Presidency  —  than  by  any 
real  interest  in  the  party.  When  invited  by  the  Whig  Club 
1  Quoted  in  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  E.  P.  Oberholtzer,  p.  82  (1904). 


50 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

of  Springfield  to  reply  to  a  speech  made  by  Douglas  in  the 
South,  he  was  almost  petulant  of  temper  from  first  to  last. 
He  had  no  heart  in  the  business;  his  humor,  when  not 
strained,  was  at  times  coarse;  and  even  Herndon,  always  an 
admirer,  admitted  that  the  effort  was  flat  and  unworthy  of 
its  author.  Of  his  eulogy  of  Clay,  while  it  was  in  no  sense  a 
great  speech,  more  may  be  said.  It  was  much  more  than  a 
perfunctory  memorial.  He  was  still  loyal  to  his  hero,  still 
under  the  charm  of  that  "  long-enduring  spell  "  which  had 
bound  the  souls  of  men  not  only  to  Henry  Clay  but  to  the 
cause  of  the  Union;  and  this  gave  glow  and  color  to  his  trib 
ute.  He  upheld  the  position  of  Clay  as  against  that  of  the 
Abolitionists  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  those  —  increasing  in 
number  —  on  the  other,  who  sought  to  perpetuate  slavery, 
and  were  beginning  to  assail  the  "  charter  of  freedom,  the 
declaration  that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal."  No 
allusion  was  made  to  the  Compromise  of  1850,  which  he  ap* 
parently  accepted  regretfully  as  one  accepts  something  less 
than  the  best.  Clearly  he  had  come  to  see  that  the  slavery 
issue  could  no  longer  be  compromised,  but  he  still  hoped 
that  some  plan  of  gradual  emancipation  and  colonization 
might  be  devised.  Yet  what  a  fearful  looking  for,  of  judg 
ment  to  come,  was  foreshadowed  in  his  closing  words ! 

Only  a  few  men,  said  Edmund  Burke,  really  see  what  is 
passing  before  their  eyes,  and  Lincoln  was  one  of  them.  By 
nature  a  watcher  of  the  signs  of  the  times,  he  did  not  read 
them  amiss,  but  he  was  slow  to  admit,  even  to  himself,  the 
bitter  truth  as  he  saw  it.  The  words  of  Calhoun  in  the  Sen 
ate  two  years  before  still  echoed  in  his  ears;  and  what  he 
feared  more  than  all  else  was  a  clash  between  the  radicals 
of  the  North  and  the  hotspurs  of  the  South,  and  a  rush  to 
arms.  When  John  T.  Stuart,  his  former  partner,  warned 
him  that  the  time  was  coming  when  all  men  would  have  to 
be  either  Abolitionists  or  Democrats,  he  replied  ruefully  but 
emphatically:  "  When  that  time  conies  my  mind  is  made 
up."  But  he  hoped,  almost  against  hope,  that  the  time 
would  not  come,  for  he  regarded  the  Abolition  movement 
as  an  erratic  crusade,  led  by  moral  idealists  rather  than  by 


LINCOLN  &  HERNDON 51 

practical  men.  None  the  less  he  brooded  over  the  abyss, 
often  gloomily,  nor  did  he  see  any  way  out  of  the  depths 
into  which  the  nation  seemed  to  be  rushing. 

Herndon  voted  the  Whig  ticket  in  1852,  swearing  elo 
quently  and  picturesquely  that  he  would  never  do  so  any 
more.  Yet  no  doubt  he  would  have  voted  it  again,  had  the 
party  lived  to  put  a  ticket  in  the  field;  for  with  all  his 
wild  words,  he  had  a  certain  dog-sagacity,  as  he  confessed, 
which  suspected  his  own  enthusiasms,  and  made  him  rely 
upon  the  calm,  slow,  sure  logic  of  his  partner.  At  times  he 
would  try  to  prod  Lincoln  out  of  his  tardy  conservatism, 
descanting  fervently  on  the  needs  of  the  hour,  only  to  re 
ceive  the  reply:  "  Billy,  you're  too  rampant  and  spontan 
eous."  Their  relations  were  free  and  easy  without  being 
familiar,  and  the  attitude  of  Herndon  was  that  of  a  younger 
brother  toward  one  whom  he  loved,  but  whose  greatness  he 
felt  and  admired.  At  the  same  time  Lincoln  was  becoming 
every  day  more  serious,  more  solitary,  more  studious  than 
ever  before.  Mr.  Herndon  writes: 

I  was  in  correspondence  with  Sumner,  Greeley,  Phillips, 
and  Garrison,  and  was  thoroughly  imbued  with  all  the 
rancor  drawn  from  such  sources.  I  adhered  to  Lincoln, 
relying  on  the  final  outcome  of  his  sense  of  justice  and 
right.  Every  time  a  good  speech  on  the  great  issue  was 
made  I  sent  for  it.  Hence  you  could  find  on  my  table  the 
latest  utterances  of  Giddings,  Phillips,  Sumner,  Seward, 
and  one  whom  I  considered  grander  than  all  of  the  others 
—  Theodore  Parker.  Lincoln  and  I  took  such  papers  as 
the  Chicago  Tribune,  New  York  Tribune,  Anti-Slavery 
Standard,  Emancipator,  and  National  Era.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  question  we  took  the  Charleston  Mercury,  and 
the  Richmond  Enquirer.  I  also  bought  a  book  called  "So 
ciology,"  written  by  one  Fitzhugh,  which  defended  and 
justified  slavery  in  every  conceivable  way.  In  addition 
I  purchased  all  the  leading  histories  of  the  slavery  move 
ment,  and  other  works  which  treated  on  that  subject. 
Lincoln  himself  never  bought  many  books,  but  he  and  1 
both  read  those  I  have  named.  After  reading  them  we 
would  discuss  the  questions  they  touched  upon  and  the 
ideas  they  suggested,  from  our  different  points  of  view.1 


Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  II,  p.  32. 


52 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

All  that  year  and  the  next  — 1853-4  —  this  study  went  on 
at  odd  hours,  in  the  midst  of  a  practice  always  busy,  and 
rapidly  becoming  lucrative,  until  they  knew  the  subject 
from  both  sides,  through  and  through,  from  end  to  end. 
This  fact  should  be  kept  in  mind  by  those  who  seem  to  think 
that  Lincoln  was  led  by  intuition  rather  than  by  brains,  and 
that  his  speeches  were  made  as  if  by  magic.  These  country 
lawyers  canvassed  the  slavery  question  in  all  its  phases, 
and  when  they  had  finished  no  conceivable  aspect  of  it  had 
escaped  them.  One  arrived  at  truth  by  swift  flashes  of  in 
sight,  the  other  by  a  slow  and  labored  process;  but  when 
they  arrived  they  stood  together,  and  nothing  could  move 
them.  During  this  time  Herndon  served  as  mayor  of  Spring 
field  to  the  credit  of  himself  and  his  city,  while  his  partner 
was  as  indifferent  to  local  affairs  as  he  was  to  the  beauty 
of  trees  and  flowers. 


"The  Genius  of  Discord" 
I 

History  had  dealt  severely  with  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  the 
part  he  played  in  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  in 
1854.  Of  that  Compact  he  had  said,  some  years  before,  that 
it  was  "  canonized  in  the  hearts  of  the  American  people  as  a 
sacred  thing  which  no  ruthless  .hand  would  ever  be  reckless 
enough  to  disturb."  Yet  he  it  was  who  made  that  Compact 
null  and  void,  opening  Pandora's  box  and  letting  loose  again 
the  furies  of  sectional  discord  which  all  hoped  had  been  laid 
and  locked  up.  Whatever  may  have  been  his  motives  —  and 
they  are  as  muddy  today  as  they  were  then  —  he  precipitated 
a  revolution,  and  became  the  avant  courier  of  Civil  War. 

While  it  is  true  that  Senator  Douglas  did  not  originate  the 
Repeal,  yet  as  the  leader  of  his  party  he  not  only  accepted  the 
fatal  amendment,1  but  boasted  of  it  as  his  work  and  the  master 
feat  of  his  career.  Drawn  further  than  perhaps  he  had  in 
tended  to  go,  he  was  forced  to  follow  if  he  was  to  retain  his 
leadership,  much  less  his  hope  of  the  Presidency.  So  astute 
and  sagacious  a  politician  could  not  have  been  unaware  of  the 
temper  of  the  country  and  the  peril  of  his  course.  He,  him 
self,  had  prophesied  it  in  1850.  Yet  so  obsessed  was  he  by 
his  ambition  that  he  was  deaf  to  the  voices  of  protest  heard 
while  the  Bill  was  brewing  in  Congress,  and  plunged  into  a 
policy  of  madness  which,  as  some  of  his  best  friends  warned 
him,  sealed  his  political  doom.  Adroitly  and  persuasively  he 

i  Strangely  enough,  the  amendment  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise  was  introduced  by  Senator  Archibald  Dixon,  of  Kentucky,  a  Whig 
who  had  been  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  Henry 
Clay  — ,  The  True  History  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  its  Repeal,  by 
Mrs.  A.  Dixon  (1899).  It  was  the  irony  of  fate  that  the  work  of  Clay 
should  be  undone  by  his  successor. 


54 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

tried  to  justify  himself  by  appeal  to  his  elastic  dogma  of 
"  popular  sovereignty,"  which  had  apparently  taken  such 
hold  of  him  as  to  obscure  his  mind,  otherwise  clear.  That 
dogma  would  have  meant,  in  its  ultimate  logic,  that  there 
could  be  no  slavery  without  the  consent  of  the  slaves;  but  it 
became  in  his  hands  only  another  form  of  that  referendum 
whereby  politicians  seek  to  evade  issues  and  shift  responsibil 
ity.1  When  tested  on  the  prairies  of  Kansas  it  proved  to  be 
"  squatter  sovereignty,"  enacting  a  wearisome  story  of  rump 
legislatures,  fraudulent  constitutions,  and  outrages  at  the 
polls,  from  which  Douglas  himself  revolted.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  motives  of  Douglas,  the  Repeal  was  an  act  of 
political  suicide  for  himself  and  a  tragedy  for  the  nation. 

It  has  often  been  noted,  as  an  instance  of  how  great  things 
hang  upon  small  things,  that  it  was  a  sleepy  old  game  of  whist 
that  led  to  the  repeal  of  the  Compact  of  1820.  The  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Bill  was  framed,  so  runs  the  story,  to  make  a  Terri 
tory  immediately  west  of  Missouri,  which  David  B.  Atchison 
was  to  go  and  organize  and  bring  in  as  a  State ;  so  returning 
to  the  seat  in  the  Senate  he  had  lost,  and  back  to  the  sleepy 
old  game  of  whist  whose  players  loved  and  missed  him.  The 
country  itself,  resting  in  the  belief  that  slavery  was  in  course 
of  ultimate  extinction,  was  more  than  half  asleep.  But  when 
the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  was  introduced  2  there  was  a  rude 


1  Concerning  the  aerobatics  of  Douglas  much  has  been  written,  and 
many  have  been  the  theories  as  to  his  motives.     Perhaps  the  best  discus 
sion  of  the  whole  subject,  from  all  gides,  is  The  Ecpeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise:   Its   Origin   and  Authorship,   by   P.    Orman   Bay    (1909). 
There  all  the  circumstances  are  recalled  without  heat  or  passion,  and  if 
the  question  of  motive  is  not  settled  it  is  because  it  must  remain  a  puzzle. 
See  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  Johnson,  Chap.  XI  (1908).     Some  of 
the  motives  attributed  to  Senator  Douglas  by  polemical  writers  are  in 
credible;  he  was  unwise,  but  he  was  neither  stupid  nor  vicious. 

2  Of  the  seventy  Democrats  in  the  Illinois  Legislature,  then  in  session, 
only  three  were  in  favor  of  the  Bill.     Two  days  later  orders  came  from 
Douglas  that  resolutions  be  passed  endorsing  it,  and  so  complete  was  the 
"  flop  "  that  only  three  Senators  stood  out  against  it.     Those  three  were 
John   M.   Palmer,   Norman  Judd,   and   B.    C.    Cook,   nor   could   they   be 
whipped   into  line.     See   History   of   the  Republican   Party,   by    F.    A. 
Flower  (1884). 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD " 55 

awakening,  and  when  it  became  a  law  there  burst  forth  such 
a  blaze  of  protest  as  had  not  been  seen  in  the  land  since  1776. 
This  move  was  unexpected  by  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  a 
proposition  to  repeal  the  Constitution  could  hardly  have 
stirred  the  nation  more  deeply.  So  daring  an  act  filled  the 
North  with  amazement,  which  quickly  deepened  into  furious 
indignation,  and  men  everywhere  felt  the  fear,  the  hope,  and 
the  dread  of  impending  upheaval.  The  signs  were  unmistak 
able.  No  mere  party  or  faction  arrayed  itself  against  the 
scheme ;  the  moral  force  of  the  North  was  against  it.  At  last 
it  was  clear  that  the  supreme  question,  now  reopened  by  the 
insanity  of  the  slave-holding  interest  and  its  allies,  had  to  be 
settled  if  the  Republic  was  to  endure.  No  longer  was  it  a 
sleepy  old  game,  but  an  "  irrepressible  conflict  "  destined  to 
rage  with  ever  increasing  force  until  slavery  was  destroyed 
in  the  flames  kindled  by  its  own  folly. 

Amidst  the  confusion  only  one  thing  was  certain,  and  that 
was  that  the  barrier  which  had  excluded  slavery  from  the  ter 
ritory  in  question  had  been  swept  away.  The  "  stump- 
speech  injected  into  the  belly  of  the  Bill,"  as  Senator  Thomas 
H.  Benton  called  it,  declared  the  policy  to  be  applicable  to 
any  State  or  Territory.  Consternation  reigned,  and  no  one 
could  tell  what  a  year  might  bring  forth.  Whigs  and  Demo 
crats  of  anti-slavery  sentiments,  who  had  long  been  deaf  to 
the  appeals  of  Abolition  leaders,  began  to  organize  themselves 
into  a  new  party  to  defeat  the  men  who  had  wrought  this 
mischief.  In  "Wisconsin,  Michigan,  and  Ohio  they  assumed 
the  name  Republican ;  everywhere  they  were  known  as  ' '  Anti- 
Nebraska  men,"  drawn  together  by  a  common  determination 
to  resist  the  attempt  of  the  South  to  seize  and  enslave  Kansas. 
In  Illinois,  however,  the  movement  was  slower.  Many  dis 
cordant  elements  delayed  fusion,  especially  in  the  southern 
counties  where  opposition  to  Douglas  was  regarded  with  the 
more  disfavor  because  it  was  associated  with  bolting  Demo 
crats  and  Abolitionist  extremists.1  But  in  the  northern 


i  For  the  movements  of  Abolitionists  in  Illinois,  see  ' '  Anti-Slavery 
Agitation  in  Illinois, "  by  Z.  Eastman,  in  Blanchard  's  History  of  Illinois 
(Old  Edition).  And  more  recently,  Negro  Servitude  in  Illinois,  by  N.  D. 


56 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

counties,  settled  chiefly  by  folk  of  New  England  origin,  it  was 
different.  In  Chicago,  pulpit  and  press  were  arrayed  against 
the  Repeal  —  particularly  the  pulpit,  which  turned  the  city 
blue  and  sulphurous  in  its  damnation  of  Douglas.  Literal  fire 
was  also  used  to  burn  him  in  hundreds  of  effigies,  by  whose 
light  he  once  said  himself  he  could  travel  all  the  way  from 
Illinois  to  the  Atlantic. 

Two  or  three  days  after  his  arrival  in  Chicago,  Senator 
Douglas  announced  that  on  the  night  of  September  1st,  he 
would  speak  in  front  of  North  Market  Hall.  All  that  after 
noon  flags  were  at  half  mast  on  lake  boats,  and  when  the 
crowds  began  to  gather  church  bells  were  tolled,  as  though 
some  great  public  calamity  impended.  When  Douglas  began 
to  address  the  people,  at  a  quarter  past  eight,  he  was  greeted 
with  groans,  jeers,  and  hisses.  He  paused  until  these  had  sub 
sided,  but  no  sooner  did  he  begin  again  than  pandemonium 
broke  loose.  Interruption  was  something  that  he  could  never 
brook  good-naturedly,  and  he  appeared  at  a  grave  disadvantage 
and  in  no  conciliatory  mood,  amidst  the  rapid  fire  of  questions 
aimed  at  him.  For  over  two  hours  he  wrestled  with  the  noisy 
crowd,  appealing  to  their  sense  of  fairness;  but  he  could  not 
gain  a  hearing.  ' '  Finally,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  he  was 
forced  to  admit  defeat.  Drawing  his  watch  from  his  pocket 
and  observing  that  the  hour  was  late,  he  shouted,  in  an  inter 
val  of  comparative  quiet,  '  It  is  now  Sunday  morning  —  I  'II 
go  to  church,  and  you  may  go  to  Hell!  '  At  the  imminent 
risk  of  his  life,  he  went  to  his  carriage  and  was  driven  to  his 
hotel. ' ' x  After  Douglas  left,  some  one  announced  that  Abra- 

Harris  (1904).  This  last  volume  sifts  a  vast  mass  of  material  and  gives 
the  winnowed  result,  and  is  interesting  in  its  account  of  Abolitionist 
journalism  in  the  State. 

i  Stephen  A.  Douglas:  A  Study  in  American  Politics,  by  Allen  John 
son,  p.  259  (1908).  "I  was  on  the  platform  as  a  reporter,"  writes  Mr. 
Horace  White,  "and  my  recollection  of  what  happened  is  still  vivid. 
There  was  nothing  like  violence  at  any  time,  but  there  was  disorder  grow 
ing  out  of  the  fact  that  the  people  had  come  prepared  to  dispute  Doug 
las  's  sophisms  and  that  Douglas  was  far  from  conciliatory  when  he  found 
himself  facing  an  unfriendly  audience."  —Lincoln  in  1854,  by  Horace 
White,  p.  9  (1908). 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD" 57 

ham  Lincoln,  who  had  come  in  during  the  evening,  would  re 
ply  from  the  same  platform. 

II 

Lincoln  was  losing  interest  in  politics,  as  we  learn  from  his 
oft-cited  "  Autobiography,"  when  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  roused  him.  He  was  out  on  the  Eighth  Circuit 
when  the  news  of  the  Repeal  came,  and  Judge  Dickey,  who 
shared  his  room  at  the  local  tavern,  reports  that  Lincoln  sat 
on  the  edge  of  the  bed  and  discussed  the  political  situation 
until  far  into  the  night.  At  last  Dickey  fell  asleep,  but  when 
he  awoke  in  the  morning  Lincoln  was  still  sitting  up  in  bed, 
deeply  absorbed  in  meditation.  ' '  I  tell  you,  Dickey, ' '  he  said, 
as  though  continuing  the  argument  of  the  previous  evening, 
"  this  nation  cannot  exist  half -slave  and  half -free!  "  In  one 
variant  or  another,  this  phrase  began  to  recur  in  his  letters 
and  in  his  office  conversation,  which  Herndon  tells  us  became 
more  animated  and  earnest.  In  his  eulogy  of  Clay  he  had 
quoted  something  very  like  it,  though  in  less  sententious 
phrase,  from  Jefferson;  but  the  words  did  not  then  have  the 
force  of  tragic  reality.  Now  "  the  Genius  of  Discord  "  had 
done  its  work,  and  he  saw  the  republic  a  house  divided  against 
itself  and  tottering  to  a  fall.  Still,  for  four  years  he  kept  his 
slogan  in  his  heart,  ruminating  upon  it  and  discussing  it  with 
his  friends,  waiting  for  the  ripening  of  events. 

At  Chicago  he  made  plea  for  a  return  to  the  Missouri  Com 
promise,  and  in  public  he  clung  to  that  forlorn  hope  until  the 
Dred  Scott  decision  swept  it  away.  But  in  his  private  thought 
he  knew,  as  he  said  to  Herndon,  that  the  two  forces,  long  kept 
apart  like  wild  beasts  chained,  each  growling  and  struggling 
to  be  free,  meant  inevitable  conflict.  Nor  did  any  one  who 
stood  near  him  doubt  on  which  side  his  sympathies  were, 
though  he  held  himself  in  reserve,  coming  forward  to  speak 
and  act  only  when  he  was  fully  satisfied  that  the  hour  was 
ripe.  Often  his  feelings  —  intense  and  almost  volcanic  at 
times  —  pressed  hard  for  hot  words  and  radical  measures,  but 
he  bit  his  lips,  to  use  his  own  language,  and  kept  quiet,  jotting 
down  notes  on  scraps  of  paper  and  stowing  them  in  his  high 


58 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

hat  —  the  handy  receptacle  for  items  to  which  he  desired  to 
have  ready  access.  Some  of  these  fugitive  notes  have  been 
preserved,  and  they  show  with  what  keen  and  merciless  logic 
he  had  gone  to  the  bottom  of  the  subject  —  passing  the  whole 
question  through  his  silent  thought,  as  though  it  were  a  case 
to  be  stated  and  argued.  When  at  last  he  spoke  his  word,  the 
whole  man  was  in  it,  and  the  issue  and  the  leader  were  alike 
disclosed. 

Such  was  the  mood  in  which  Lincoln,  now  forty-five  and  in 
the  prime  of  his  powers,  stood  up  to  refute  the  dogma  of  Doug 
las  and  to  challenge  its  champion.  By  a  kind  of  instinct  men 
recognized  the  new  leader,  and  made  way  for  him,  though  at 
the  time  there  was  no  organized  party,  but  only  a  few  friends, 
to  urge  him  forward.  Just  when  he  resolved  to  try  again  for 
office  is  not  known;  but  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  while 
Lincoln  was  a  politician,  wary,  discreet,  and  shrewd,  he  was 
never  a  professional  politician.1  That  is,  he  did  not  live  by 
holding  office,  but  by  the  arduous  labors  of  the  law,  and  he  re 
turned  to  politics  only  at  the  call  of  a  crisis  —  goaded  also,  it 
seems,  by  his  ambitious  little  wife,  who  had  been  most  un 
happy  during  his  subsidence.  If  he  was  a  master  of  all  the 
arts  of  politics,  he  brought  them  to  the  service  of  a  great 
human  cause,  his  very  jealousy  of  Douglas  serving  the  better 
to  point  his  logic  with  tips  of  fire. 

Early  in  October  Senator  Douglas  delivered  a  speech  in 
the  State  House  at  Springfield,  during  the  week  of  the  State 
Fair,  to  which,  on  the  following  day,  in  the  same  hall  to  no 
smaller  audience,  Lincoln  addressed  a  reply.  The  occasion, 
notable  in  many  ways,  was  in  fact  the  beginning  of  a  debate 
between  the  two  men,  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the  nation, 
which  continued  at  intervals  for  five  years.  Douglas  was  at 

1  Perhaps  this  fact,  though  noted  by  gome  of  his  biographers,  has 
not  been  sufficiently  emphasized.  —  American  Commonwealth,  by  James 
Bryce,  Vol  TI,  p.  68.  Of  the  $200  contributed  by  his  friends  for  his  use 
in  the  canvass  of  1846,  he  returned  $199.90  unused.  —  Abraham  Lincoln, 
by  G.  H.  Putman,  p.  16  (1909).  In  later  years,  besides  contributing  to 
the  campaign  fund,  often  to  his  own  financial  hurt,  his  friends  contrib 
uted  to  his  expenses.  —  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol. 
II,  p.  71. 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD"  59 

this  time  the  most  striking  figure  in  the  public  eye  —  the 
most  popular  leader  since  Henry  Clay  —  and  in  view  of  the 
estrangement  of  a  large  part  of  his  constituency,  he  put  forth 
all  his  powers  of  persuasion.  He  defended  the  Nebraska  Bill 
by  appeal  to  his  panacea  of  "  popular  sovereignty,"  which, 
he  said,  only  sought  to  establish  in  the  Territories  a  policy 
already  existing  in  the  States.  Why,  he  asked,  should  not 
the  people  of  the  Territories  have  the  right  to  form  and  reg 
ulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way?  Moving 
from  their  old  homes  to  new  ones  did  not  incapacitate  them 
for  self-government.  If  the  citizens  of  a  Territory  decided 
by  vote  to  admit  slaves  as  property,  no  State  had  a  right  to 
interfere.  After  this  manner  he  argued,  using  all  the  arts 
at  his  command,  and  in  ordinary  times  his  eloquence  would 
have  been  conclusive ;  but  he  had  reckoned  by  the  wrong  star. 
His  political  compass,  never  very  steady,  had  been  deflected, 
perhaps  unawares,  by  the  subtle  attraction  of  personal  and 
partisan  interest.  His  fallacy  lay  in  the  assumption  that 
property  in  slaves  did  not  differ  from  other  kinds  of  prop 
erty;  and  that  the  nation  could  deal  with  an  historic  evil  by 
evasion.  None  the  less  his  speech,  delivered  with  great  vital 
ity  and  charm,  swayed  men  by  its  blend  of  plausibility  and 
power. 

It  was  therefore  upon  no  ordinary  occasion  that  Lincoln 
found  himself  pitted  against  his  old  adversary  —  his  rival  on 
many  occasions  and  for  many  things.  Much  interest  attached 
to  his  reply,  not  only  from  the  fact  that  he  was  crossing 
swords  with  a  famous  debater,  but  because  he  was  a  candi 
date  against  James  Shields  —  his  old  dueling  antagonist  — 
for  the  Senate;  and  for  the  further  reason  that  such  a  dis 
cussion  involved,  necessarily,  a  survey  of  slavery  in  all  its 
phases.  While  he  was  known  to  be  a  Whig  of  anti-slavery 
leanings,  up  to  this  time  there  had  been  no  demand  that  he 
declare  himself  on  that  question  as  a  national  political  issue. 
He  had  now  to  define  his  position,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
tell  the  plain  truth,  so  far  at  least  as  the  public  mind  was 
ready  for  the  whole  truth;  and  the  telling  of  it  made  his 
speech  one  of  the  imperishable  utterances  of  that  critical 


60 LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 

period,  if  not  of  our  whole  history.  When  he  had  finished 
men  of  all  parties  realized  that  a  new  leader  had  appeared, 
the  equal  of  Douglas  in  debate,  calm,  strong,  and  fearless, 
with  a  sure  grasp  of  the  problem  —  a  man  of  genius  ablaze 
with  passion. 

For  four  hours  the  circuit-riding  lawyer  unfolded  and 
described  the  great  issue  with  a  mastery  of  facts,  a  logical 
strategy,  and  a  penetration  of  insight  that  astonished  even 
his  friends.  Evidence  of  careful  study  was  apparent  in  the 
compactness  of  his  thought  and  the  lucidity  of  his  style,  and 
there  was  a  total  absence  of  the  story-telling,  of  the  grotesque 
humor,  which  had  marred  his  earlier  efforts.  There  were  oc 
casional  playful  passages,  keen  logical  thrusts  and  bright 
metaphorical  sallies,  but  as  a  whole  the  speech  was  charged 
with  deep  feeling,  the  speaker  becoming  at  times  intense  and 
solemnly  prophetic  as  the  far-reaching  nature  of  the  issue  was 
unveiled.  Unlike  the  Abolition  orators,  he  did  not  recite  the 
cruelties  of  slavery,  but  held  himself  to  the  legal  aspects  of 
the  question,  arraigning  Douglas  and  his  party  for  violating 
the  pledge  of  the  Compromise,  and  for  opening  the  way  for  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  new  territory.  While  he  did  not  plead 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  he  had  none  of  the  spirit  of  conces 
sion  to  property  interests  that  had  ruined  Webster,  and  he 
spoke  as  one  to  whom  the  moral  issue  was  vividly  alive.  Restrict 
slavery,  he  argued,  and  time  would  work  its  abolition  by 
natural  process.  For  the  pet  dogma  of  Douglas  he  had  a 
profound  scorn,  and  his  epigrams  pierced  it  like  flashes  of 
lightning.  He  turned  it  over  and  over,  inside  and  out,  tear 
ing  off  its  mask  and  exhibiting  it  in  such  a  light  that  no  one 
could  fail  to  see  the  deception  embodied  in  it.  No  political  dog 
ma  ever  received  a  more  merciless  exposure,  while  the  Senator 
himself  sat  on  a  front  bench,  not  twelve  feet  away,  intently 
listening.  There  were  warm,  but  for  the  most  part  good- 
humored  passages  between  them  as  the  afternoon  ran  along. 
Lincoln  kept  his  temper,  even  under  the  most  provoking 
taunts,  and  his  readiness  and  ease  of  retort  delighted  the 
immense  audience.  It  was  a  great  triumph,  and  thunders  of 
applause  greeted  him ;  but  what  impressed  men  was  the  gran- 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD"  til 

itic  solidity  of  his  argument,  made  luminous  by  a  passionate 
earnestness  all  the  more  effective  for  its  restraint.  One  who 
was  present  has  left  this  picture  of  the  orator: 

It  was  a  warmish  day  in  early  October,  and  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  in  his  shirt  sleeves  when  he  stepped  on  the  platform. 
I  observed  that,  although  awkward,  he  was  not  in  the  least 
embarrassed.  He  began  in  a  slow  and  hesitating  manner, 
but  without  any  mistakes  of  language,  dates,  or  facts.  It 
was  evident  that  he  had  mastered  his  subject,  that  he  knew 
what  he  was  going  to  say,  and  that  he  knew  he  was  right. 
He  had  a  thin,  high-pitched,  falsetto  voice  of  much  carry 
ing  power,  and  could  be  heard  a  long  distance  in  spite  of 
the  bustle  and  tumult  of  the  crowd.  He  had  the  accent 
and  pronunciation  peculiar  to  his  native  State,  Kentucky. 
Gradually  he  warmed  up  with  his  subject,  his  angularity 
disappeared,  and  he  passed  into  that  attitude  of  uncon 
scious  majesty  that  is  so  conspicuous  in  Saint-Gaudens's 
statue  at  the  entrance  of  Lincoln  Park  in  Chicago.  .  .  . 
Progressing  with  his  theme,  his  words  began  to  come  faster 
and  his  face  to  light  up  with  the  rays  of  genius  and  his 
body  to  move  in  unison  with  his  thoughts.  His  gestures 
were  made  with  his  body  and  head  rather  than  with  his 
arms.  They  were  the  natural  expression  of  the  man,  and 
so  perfectly  adapted  to  what  he  was  saying  that  anything 
different  would  have  been  quite  inconceivable.  Sometimes 
his  manner  was  very  impassioned,  and  he  seemed  trans 
figured  with  his  subject.  Perspiration  would  stream  down 
his  face,  and  each  particular  hair  would  stand  on  end.  .  .  . 
In  such  transfigured  moments  as  these  he  was  the  type  of 
the  Hebrew  prophet. 

I  heard  the  whole  speech.  It  was  superior  to  Webster's 
reply  to  Hayne,  because  its  theme  is  loftier  and  its  scope 
wider.  .  .  .  I  think  also  that  Lincoln's  speech  is  the  superior 
of  the  two  as  an  example  of  English  style.  It  lacks  some 
thing  of  the  smooth,  compulsive  flow  which  takes  the  in 
tellect  captive  in  the  Websterian  diction,  but  it  excels  in 
the  simplicity,  directness,  and  lucidity  which  appeal  both 
to  the  intellect  and  to  the  heart.  The  speech  made  so  pro 
found  an  impression  on  me  that  I  feel  under  its  spell  to 
this  day.1 

When  Lincoln  closed,  Owen  Lovejoy,  the  leader  of  the  Aboli 
tionists  —  then  holding  a  convention  in  the  city  —  announced 

i  Lincoln  in  1854,  by  Horace  White,  pp.  9-11  (1908). 


62 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

a  meeting  in  the  same  place  that  evening  of  all  the  "  friends 
of  liberty,"  with  a  view  to  organizing  the  Republican  party 
in  Illinois,  as  it  had  already  been  organized  in  Wisconsin 
and  Ohio.  The  scheme  was  to  induce  Lincoln  to  address 
them,  and  thus  publicly  to  commit  him  as  of  their  faith.  But 
the  astute  Herndon,  though  in  their  counsels  and  as  radical 
as  any  of  them,  was  more  of  a  politician,  and  knew  the  dan 
ger  to  Lincoln  of  consorting  just  then  with  Abolitionists.  So 
he  hunted  up  his  partner  and  said:  "  Go  home  at  once! 
Take  Bob  with  you  and  drive  somewhere  in  the  country,  and 
stay  till  this  thing  is  over. ' '  Lincoln,  always  alert  and  politic, 
did  take  Bob  in  his  buggy  and  drove  to  Tazewell  County, 
where  Judge  Davis  was  holding  court.  Thus  he  escaped  the 
dilemma,  since  either  joining,  or  refusing  to  join,  the  Abo 
litionists  would  have  been  perilous  in  view  of  the  approach 
ing  contest  for  the  Senatorship. 

Herndon,  however,  had  difficulty  in  explaining  to  some  of 
his  fellow  radicals  why  his  partner  had  such  urgent  "  busi 
ness  "  in  Tazewell  County.  Among  these  was  Mr.  Z.  East 
man,  editor  of  the  Western  Citizen  —  an  Abolitionist  paper 

—  who  remained  for  some  time  uncertain  as  to  the  real  po 
sition  of  Lincoln  on  the  slavery  question.1     But  Owen  Love- 
joy  and  Ichabod  Codding  —  two  ministers  with  hearts  aflame 

—  were  so  sure  of  Lincoln  that  they  put  his  name  on  a  list 
of  members  of  a  Republican  State  Committee  without  con 
sulting  him.     Some  time  later  Lincoln  received  a  notice  from 

1  Later  Mr.  Eastman  visited  Springfield  and  had  an  interview  with 
Herndon  —  the  mediator  between  Lincoln  and  the  radicals  —  in  order  to 
assure  himself  and  his  friends  as  to  Lincoln's  real  views.  He  reports 
Herndon  as  saying:  "Lincoln  has  been  an  attentive  reader  of  your  paper 
for  years;  he  believes  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and.  .  .is  well 
posted.  That  he  might  get  all  sides  of  the  question,  I  take  Garrison's 
Liberator,  and  he  takes  the  National  Era,  and  the  Western  Citizen. 
Although  he  does  7iot  say  much,  you  may  depend  on  it,  Mr.  Lincoln  is 
all  right;  when  it  becomes  necessary,  he  will  speak  so  that  he  will  be 
understood."  At  the  Bloomington  convention,  May  29,  1856,  he  did 
speak  in  no  uncertain  sound.  ' '  After  that, ' '  adds  Mr.  Eastman,  ' '  there 
was  no  longer  any  opposition  to  Lincoln  from  the  most  radical  of  the 
Abolitionists." — "Anti-Slavery  Agitation  in  Illinois,"  in  Blanchard's 
History  of  Illinois,  p.  671  (Old  Edition). 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD" 63 

Codding  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  committee,  and  re 
plied  by  asking  why  his  name  had  been  used  without  his 
consent.1  He  was  anxious,  however,  that  his  radical  friends 
should  understand  his  position,  which  was  that  when  he  re 
fused  to  go  faster  than  a  certain  pace  it  was  with  a  view  to 
final  victory,  not  to  surrender.  From  first  to  last  he  was  for 
the  ultimate  extinction  of  slavery,  and  he  waited  only  for 
means.  What  reply  Codding  made,  if  any,  is  not  known; 
but  we  know  that  Lovejoy,  when  elected  to  the  Legislature, 
voted  for  Lincoln  for  Senator. 

Twelve  days  after  the  encounter  during  the  State  Fair  the 
two  rivals  met  in  joint  debate  at  Peoria,  where  Douglas  spoke 
for  more  than  three  hours  in  presenting  his  side  of  the  case. 
He  followed  the  outline  of  his  Springfield  address,  ringing 
the  changes  on  ' '  popular  sovereignty, ' '  and  approaching  dan 
gerously  near  to  bathos  when  at  the  close,  as  a  bait  for  Whig 
votes,  he  pictured  himself  as  standing  beside  the  death-bed 
of  Webster  and  receiving  the  patriotic  mantle  of  that  as 
cending  statesman.  To  those  who  recalled  how  he  had  fought 
that  giant  with  all  the  weapons  of  partisan  warfare,  such  an 
appeal  must  have  been  amusing.  Those  were  the  days  when 
the  interest  of  audiences  was  equal  to  the  endurance  of  ora 
tors,  and  when  it  came  Lincoln's  turn  to  be  heard  it  was  sup 
per  time.  Whereupon  he  told  the  people  that  his  argument 
would  not  be  less  lengthy,  and  asked  them  to  repair  to  their 

1  In  1858,  in  the  joint  debate  in  Ottawa,  Douglas  read  what  pur 
ported  to  be  a  resolution  passed  by  this  "Black  Bepublican"  con 
vention  of  1854,  demanding  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and 
with  an  air  of  triumph  applied  it  as  a  blister  to  Lincoln,  whose  name 
was  found  on  the  list  of  committeemen.  It  turned  out,  however,  that 
his  friend  C.  H.  Lanphier,  of  the  State  Register,  who  had  furnished  the 
information,  had  given  him  a  resolution  passed  by  a  small  convention 
in  Kane  County.  The  Springfield  resolution  contained  no  such  demand. 
Lincoln,  who  found  out  the  truth  and  applied  the  blister  to  Douglas  at 
Freeport,  always  believed  that  Mr.  Lanphier  had  substituted  the  bogus 
resolution  to  help  T.  L.  Harris  in  his  race  for  Congress  against  Richard 
Yates,  and  had  forgotten  the  circumstance.  It  is  not  necessary  to  charge 
Mr.  Lanphier  with  bad  faith  in  this  instance.  Nor  was  Douglas  a  party 
to  the  trick,  though,  as  the  sequel  showed,  he  was  a  victim  of  it.  —  Lin 
coln-Douglas  Debates,  pp.  65-73,  87-93  (1860). 


64 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

provision  baskets  and  return  at  seven,  announcing  that  Sen 
ator  Douglas  was  to  reply.  After  a  scene  which  resembled  a 
picnic,  the  audience  re-assembled,  and  he  repeated  the  sub 
stance  of  his  Springfield  effort,  but  in  an  improved  form, 
both  as  to  compactness  of  argument  and  austerity  of  style. 
In  later  years  he  regarded  his  Peoria  address  as  in  some  re 
spects  the  ablest  he  had  ever  made,  and  since  he  wrote  it  out 
—  entirely  from  memory,  for  he  did  not  use  notes  —  and 
published  it  in  successive  numbers  of  the  Sangamon  Journal, 
it  can  be  read  to  this  day.  While  it  contained  a  few  of  the 
catch  phrases  which  in  his  later  speeches  became  bywords  of 
popular  use,  it  was  by  far  the  most  clear-cut  and  masterly 
forensic  utterance  of  that  year,  if  not  of  the  whole  slavery 
debate. 

Many  elements  entered  into  the  speech  to  make  it  notable, 
one  of  which  was  the  spirit  of  sympathy  and  justice  shown 
towards  the  people  of  the  South,  against  whom  Lincoln  had 
no  unkindly  feeling.  Long  usage  and  interest,  he  knew,  had 
influenced  their  judgment,  just  as  like  usage  and  interest 
would  have  influenced  the  judgment  of  the  people  of  the  North. 
He  did  not  hold  them  solely  responsible  for  slavery,  nor  did  he 
suggest  any  plan  whereby  they  might  rid  themselves  of  it, 
but  he  was  emphatic  in  his  belief  that,  instead  of  becoming 
aggressive  for  its  extension,  they  should  by  this  time  have 
devised  some  system  of  gradual  emancipation.  Equally  em 
phatic  was  his  plea  for  the  humanity  of  the  negro,  for  proof 
of  which  he  appealed  to  the  Southern  people  themselves,  many 
of  whom  were  restive  under  slavery  and  so  tender-hearted 
that  they  must  needs  employ  others  to  manage  their  slaves. 
If  he  was  too  politic  to  push  this  point  to  indiscreet  length, 
he  left  no  doubt  as  to  his  feeling  that  slavery  was  morally 
wrong,  both  to  master  and  man,  as  well  as  to  the  nation.  In 
deed,  just  because  it  was  a  national  sin  —  in  which  North  and 
South  were  involved  in  a  common  historic  guilt  —  the  whole 
Union  was  bound  to  protect  the  new  Territories  from  infec 
tion  by  it.  New  Territories  were  held  in  national  trust,  not 
merely  for  the  first  settlers  who  might  wish  to  carry  slavery 
with  them,  but  for  the  millions  who  would  eventually  settle  or 


65 


be  born  there.  Unsuited  by  climate  and  soil  for  slave-labor 
—  which  economic  necessity  had  segregated  to  the  South  — 
those  broad  expanses  must  be  kept  as  an  asylum  for  the  poor 
white  people  who  wished  to  find  homes  where  their  labor 
would  not  be  degraded  by  contact  with  slavery.  The  Nebraska 
Bill,  so  far  from  being  a  Union-saving  measure,  had  already 
filled  the  nation  with  vehement  antagonism  which  would  only 
be  intensified  by  further  attempts  to  extend  slavery.  Actual 
events,  then  transpiring  in  Kansas,  were  heralds  of  civil  strife, 
and  with  the  abandonment  of  the  spirit  of  mutual  concession 
and  compromise  there  was  no  hope  of  peace.  He  therefore 
urged  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  be  restored  as  a  basis 
of  negotiation  between  the  sections.  The  speech  was  states 
manlike  in  its  scope  and  grasp,  incisive  but  dignified  in  lan 
guage,  though  weakened  somewhat  at  the  close  by  too  much 
attention  to  the  quibbles  of  Douglas.  As  this  was  the  first 
elaborate  survey  of  the  question  by  Lincoln  that  has  come 
down  to  us,  a  few  passages  may  illustrate  its  spirit  and  style : 

Before  proceeding  let  me  say  that  I  think  I  have  no  preju 
dice  against  the  Southern  people.  They  are  just  what  we 
would  be  in  their  situation.  If  slavery  did  not  now  exist 
among  them,  they  would  not  introduce  it.  If  it  did  now 
exist  among  us,  we  should  not  instantly  give  it  up.  This 
I  believe  of  the  masses  North  and  South.  Doubtless  there 
are  individuals  on  both  sides  who  would  not  hold  slaves  un 
der  any  circumstances,  and  others  who  would  gladly  in 
troduce  slavery  anew  if  it  were  out  of  existence.  We  know 
that  some  Southern  men  do  free  their  slaves,  go  North  and 
become  tip-top  Abolitionists,  while  some  Northern  ones  go 
South  and  become  most  cruel  slave-masters. 

When  the  Southern  people  tell  us  that  they  are  no  more 
responsible  for  the  origin  of  slavery  than  we  are,  I  ac 
knowledge  the  fact.  When  it  is  said  that  the  institution 
exists  and  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  get  rid  of  it  in  any 
satisfactory  way,  I  can  understand  and  appreciate  the 
same.  I  surely  will  not  blame  them  for  not  doing  what  I 
should  not  know  how  to  do  myself.  //  all  earthly  power 
were  given  me  I  should  not  know  what  to  do  with  the  ex 
isting  institution.  My  first  impulse  would  be  to  free  all 
the  slaves  and  send  them  to  Liberia,  to  their  own  native 
land.  But  a  moment's  reflection  would  convince  me  that 
whatever  of  high  hope  (as  I  think  there  is)  there  may  be 


66 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

in  this,  in  the  long  run,  its  sudden  execution  is  impossible. 
.  .  .  But  all  this,  to  my  judgment,  furnishes  no  more  ex 
cuse  for  permitting  slavery  to  go  into  our  own  free  terri 
tory  than  it  would  for  reviving  the  African  slave  trade 
by  law. 

Equal  justice  to  the  South,  it  is  said,  requires  us  to  con 
sent  to  the  extension  of  slavery  to  new  Territories.  That 
is  to  say,  inasmuch  as  you  do  not  object  to  my  taking  my 
hog  to  Nebraska,  therefore  I  must  not  object  to  you  taking 
your  slave.  Now,  I  admit  that  this  is  perfectly  logical,  if 
there  is  no  difference  between  hogs  and  negroes.  But 
while  you  thus  require  me  to  deny  the  humanity  of  the 
negro,  I  wish  to  ask  whether  you  of  the  South,  yourselves, 
have  ever  been  willing  to  do  as  much?  .  .  .  The  great 
majority,  South  as  well  as  North,  have  human  sympathies, 
of  which  they  can  no  more  divest  themselves  than  they  can 
of  their  sensibility  to  physical  pain.  These  sympathies  in 
the  bosoms  of  the  Southern  people  manifest,  in  many  ways, 
their  sense  of  the  wrong  of  slavery,  and  their  consciousness 
that,  after  all,  there  is  humanity  in  the  negro.  .  .  .  And 
now  why  will  you  ask  us  to  deny  the  humanity  of  the  negro, 
and  estimate  him  as  only  the  equal  of  a  hog? 

The  doctrine  of  self-government  is  right, —  absolutely 
and  eternally  right, —  but  it  has  no  just  application  as 
here  attempted.  .  .  .  But  if  the  negro  is  a  man,  is  it  not 
to  that  extent  a  total  destruction  of  self-government  to  say 
that  he  too  shall  not  govern  himself  ?  When  the  white  man 
governs  himself  that  is  self-government;  but  when  he  gov 
erns  himself  and  also  governs  another  man,  that  is  more 
than  self-government  —  that  is  despotism.  .  .  .  No  man  is 
good  enough  to  govern  another  man  without  that  other 
man's  consent.  I  say  this  is  the  leading  principle,  the 
sheet-anchor,  of  American  republicanism. 

But  Nebraska  is  urged  as  a  great  Union-saving  measure. 
Well,  I  too  go  for  saving  the  Union.  Much  as  I  hate  slavery, 
I  would  consent  to  the  extension  of  it  rather  than  see  the 
Union  dissolved,  just  as  I  would  consent  to  any  great  evil 
to  avoid  a  greater  one.  But  when  I  go  to  Union-saving,  I 
must  believe,  at  least,  that  the  means  I  employ  must  have 
some  adaptation  to  the  end.  To  my  mind,  Nebraska  has 
no  such  adaptation.  ' '  It  hath  no  relish  of  salvation  in  it. ' ' 
It  is  an  aggravation,  rather,  of  the  only  thing  which  ever 
endangers  the  Union.  When  it  came  upon  us,  all  was 
peace  and  quiet.  The  nation  was  looking  to  the  forming  of 
new  bonds  of  union,  and  a  long  course  of  peace  and  pros 
perity  seemed  to  lie  before  us. 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD " 67 

In  this  state  of  affairs  the  Genius  of  Discord  himself 
could  hardly  have  invented  a  way  of  again  setting  us  by 
the  ears  but  by  turning  back  and  destroying  the  peace 
measures  of  the  past.  The  counsels  of  that  Genius  seem 
to  have  prevailed.  The  Missouri  Compromise  was  repealed ; 
and  here  we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  new  slavery  agitation, 
such,  I  think,  as  we  have  never  seen  before.  .  .  .  The 
Missouri  Compromise  ought  to  be  restored.  For  the  peace 
of  the  Union,  it  ought  to  be  restored.  ...  If  by  any 
means  we  omit  to  do  this,  what  follows?  Slavery  may  or 
may  not  be  established  in  Nebraska.  But  whether  it  be  or 
not,  we  shall  have  repudiated  —  discarded  from  the  coun 
cils  of  the  nation  —  the  spirit  of  compromise ;  for  who, 
after  this,  will  ever  trust  in  a  national  compromise?  The 
spirit  of  mutual  concession  —  that  spirit  which  first  gave 
us  the  Constitution,  and  which  has  thrice  saved  the  Union 
—  we  shall  have  strangled  and  cast  from  us  forever. 

And  what  shall  we  have  in  lieu  of  it  ?  The  South  flushed 
with  triumph  and  tempted  to  excess;  the  North  betrayed 
as  they  believe,  brooding  on  wrong  and  burning  for  re 
venge.  One  side  will  provoke,  the  other  resent.  One  will 
taunt,  the  other  defy;  one  aggresses,  the  other  retaliates. 
Already  a  few  in  the  North  defy  all  constitutional  re 
straints,  resist  the  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and 
even  menace  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States  where 
it  exists.  Already  a  few  in  the  South  claim  the  constitu 
tional  right  to  take  and  hold  slaves  in  the  free  States  — 
demand  the  revival  of  the  slave-trade.  .  .  .  But  restore 
the  Compromise,  what  then?  We  thereby  restore  the  na 
tional  faith,  the  national  confidence,  the  national  feeling  of 
brotherhood.  "We  thereby  reinstate  the  spirit  of  conces 
sion  and  compromise,  that  spirit  which  has  never  failed  us 
in  past  perils,  and  which  may  be  safely  trusted  for  all  the 
future. 

The  South  ought  to  join  in  doing  this.  The  peace  of  the 
nation  is  as  dear  to  them  as  to  us.  The  memories  of  the  past 
and  hopes  of  the  future,  they  share  as  largely  as  we.  It 
would  be  on  their  part  a  great  act  —  great  in  its  spirit,  and 
great  in  its  effect.  It  would  be  worth  to  the  nation  a  hundred 
years'  purchase  of  peace  and  prosperity.  And  what  of 
sacrifice  would  they  make?  They  only  surrender  to  us 
what  they  gave  us  for  a  consideration  long,  long  ago ;  what 
they  have  not  now  asked  for,  struggled  or  cared  for ;  what 
has  been  thrust  upon  them,  not  less  to  their  astonishment 
than  to  ours.  .  .  .  Our  republican  robe  is  soiled  and  trail 
ed  in  the  dust.  Let  us  purify  it.  Let  us  turn  and  wash  it 


68 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

white  in  the  spirit,  if  not  the  blood,  of  the  Revolution.  Let 
us  turn  slavery  from  its  claims  of  "moral  right"  back  upon 
its  existing  legal  right  of  "necessity."  Let  us  return  it  to 
the  position  our  fathers  gave  it,  and  there  let  it  rest  in 
peace.  .  .  .  Let  North  and  South  —  let  all  Americans  — 
let  all  lovers  of  liberty  everywhere  join  in  the  great  and 
good  work.  If  we  do  this,  we  shall  not  only  have  saved  the 
Union,  but  we  shall  have  so  saved  it  as  to  make  and  to  keep 
it  forever  worthy  of  the  saving. 

So  amazed  was  Douglas  at  the  skill  and  power  of  his  opponent 
that  he  is  reported  to  have  said  to  Lincoln,  flatteringly :  ' '  You 
are  giving  me  more  trouble  in  debate  than  all  the  United  States 
Senate ;  let  us  both  stop  and  go  home. " x  To  this  Lincoln, 

i  This  incident,  known  as  the  "Peoria  Truce,"  has  long  been  in  dis 
pute  among  the  biographers  of  Lincoln  and  Douglas.  ' '  Aside  from  the 
palpable  improbability  of  this  'Peoria  Truce',"  writes  Prof.  Johnson, 
"it  should  be  noted  that  Lincoln  accepted  an  invitation  to  speak  at 
Lacon  next  day,  without  so  much  as  referring  to  this  agreement. ' '  - 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  p.  266.  But  in  this  he  is  manifestly  in  error,  as 
there  is  now  ample  proof  that  Lincoln  cancelled  the  Lacon  engagement. 
The  following  report  of  a  conversation  between  Mr.  Gowdy  and  Senator 
Douglas,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Horace  White,  is  in  point : 

New  York,  Dec.  7,  1908. 
My  Dear  Mr.  White : 

In  1891,  in  his  office  in  Chicago,  Mr.  Gowdy  told  me  that  Judge 
Douglas  spent  the  night  with  him  at  his  house  preceding  the  first  day  of 
his  debate  with  Mr.  Lincoln;  that  after  the  evening  meal  Judge  Douglas 
exhibited  considerable  restlessness,  pacing  back  and  forth  upon  the 
floor  of  the  room  evidently  with  mental  preoccupation.  The  attitude  of 
Judge  Douglas  was  so  unusual  that  Mr.  Gowdy  felt  impelled  to  address 
him  and  said:  "Judge  Douglas,  you  appear  to  be  ill  at  ease  and  under 
some  mental  agitation;  it  cannot  be  that  you  have  any  anxiety  with 
reference  to  the  outcome  of  the  debate  you  are  to  have  with  Lincoln; 
you  cannot  have  any  doubt  of  your  ability  to  dispose  of  him ! ' ' 

Whereupon  Judge  Douglas,  stopping  abruptly,  turned  to  Mr.  Gowdy 
and  said  with  great  emphasis:  "Yes,  I  am  troubled,  deeply  troubled, 
over  the  progress  and  outcome  of  this  debate.  I  have  known  Lincoln 
for  many  years  and  have  continually  met  him  in  debate.  I  regard  him  as 
the  most  difficult  and  dangerous  opponent  that  I  have  ever  met,  and  I  have 
serious  misgivings  as  to  what  may  be  the  result  of  this  joint  debate." 
These  in  substance,  and  almost  in  exact  phraseology,  are  the  words  re 
peated  to  me  by  Mr.  Gowdy.  Faithfully  yours, 

FRANCIS  LYNDE  STETSON. 

If   we   assume,    adds   Mr.   White,   that    this   happened   at   Peoria  in 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD" 69 

always  gullible  through  his  feelings  and  unable  to  refuse  a 
polite  request,  agreed,  to  the  undisguised  astonishment  of  his 
friends.  The  next  day  they  went  to  the  town  of  Lacon  where 
they  were  announced  for  speeches,  but  Douglas  declined  to 
speak  on  the  ground  of  hoarseness,  and  Lincoln  refused  to  take 
advantage  of  ' ;  Judge  Douglas 's  indisposition. ' '  Lincoln  went 
directly  home  where  he  was  met  by  a  company  of  friends  — 
including  Herndon,  William  Jayne,  Ben.  F.  Irving,  William 
Butler,  and  others  —  who  chided  him  for  being  so  susceptible 
to  palaver.  He  afterwards  said  to  Herndon,  "  It 's  a  fortunate 
thing  I  wasn't  born  a  woman,  for  I  cannot  refuse  anything,  it 
seems. ' '  Douglas,  instead  of  going  home,  stopped  at  Princeton, 
where  he  collided  in  debate  with  Owen  Lovejoy;  and  when 
afterwards  charged  with  a  breach  of  agreement,  he  explained 
that  Lovejoy  had  "bantered  and  badgered"  him  until  he  had 
to  speak  in  self-defense.  But  the  explanation  did  not  satisfy 
Lincoln,  and  his  opinion  of  Douglas,  never  very  high,  dropped 
several  degrees.  Indeed,  the  one  injustice  of  which  Lincoln 
was  capable  was  injustice  to  Douglas,  who,  however,  did  not 
fail  upon  occasion  to  recognize  the  worth  of  his  opponent. 

As  a  result  of  the  election  the  ' '  Anti -Nebraska  men ' '  had  a 
majority  in  the  Legislature,  and  Lincoln  had  so  planned  his 
meetings  with  Douglas  as  to  make  himself  an  inevitable  candi 
date  for  the  Senate.  He  himself  had  been  nominated  for  the 
Legislature  —  against  the  wishes  of  his  wife,  who  was  dream 
ing  of  higher  honors  —  by  the  Whigs  and  also  by  the  Know- 
Nothing  party,  a  committee  of  whom  waited  upon  him  to  assure 
him  of  their  support.  Their  interview  was  soon  ended.  "Who 
are  the  native  Americans?"  asked  Lincoln  pointedly.  "Do 
they  not  wear  the  breech-clout  and  carry  the  tomahawk?  We 
pushed  them  from  their  homes  and  now  turn  upon  others  not 

October,  1854,  all  the  requirements  of  the  incident  are  fulfilled,  because 
Mr.  Gowdy  resided  at  Peoria  at  that  time.  Nor  was  there  any  subse 
quent  joint  debate  between  the  two  men  at  or  near  Mr.  Gowdy '»  resi 
dence.  "While  the  letter  does  not  allude  to  the  "truce,"  it  does  show 
Douglas's  state  of  mind  in  reference  to  Lincoln's  equipment  for  the 
debate  in  1854  and  his  apprehension  as  to  the  result.  No  doubt  the 
state  of  the  public  mind  also  had  something  to  do  with  Douglas's  pro 
posal  to  hush  the  debate. 


70 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

fortunate  enough  to  come  over  here  so  early  as  we  or  our  fore 
fathers.  Gentlemen  of  the  committee  your  party  is  wrong  in 
principle."  He  then  told  a  story  of  an  Irishman  who  said 
that  he  wanted  to  be  born  in  this  country,  but  his  mother  would 
not  let  him,  and  the  delegation  departed.1  In  spite  of  this  re 
jection  of  Know-Nothing  support  he  was  elected  by  a  large 
majority,  with  Judge  Logan  his  former  partner,  to  represent 
Sangamon  County.  Skill,  tact,  and  political  capacity  were  his 
in  rare  degree,  and  he  at  once  set  to  work  to  win  the  Senator- 
ship.  During  the  anxious  interval  between  the  election  and  the 
assembling  of  the  Legislature  ' '  he  slept  with  one  eye  open, ' '  as 
Herndon  puts  it,  watching  the  scene  and  planning  for  the 
contest. 

Those  who  imagine  that  Lincoln  waited  for  honors  to  be 
thrust  upon  him  do  not  know  the  man  whom  Herndon,  his 
partner,  knew.  He  not  only  resigned  from  the  Legislature  in 
order  to  enter  the  race  for  the  Senate,  but  wrote  letters  to  the 
members  whom  he  personally  knew,  soliciting  their  votes.  Oth 
ers  he  sought  to  reach  through  the  influence  of  friends,  espe 
cially  E.  B.  Washburne,  Jacob  Harding,  and  Joseph  Gillespie. 
The  "Anti-Nebraska"  majority  was  not  only  small  but  hetero 
geneous  and  discordant,  and  the  result  was  uncertain.  Doug 
las  was  moving  heaven  and  earth  to  re-elect  Shields  who  had 
voted  for  the  Nebraska  Bill,  and  some  of  the  Anti-Nebraska 
men  voted  for  Shields  on  the  ground  of  personal  friendship. 
Governor  Joel  A.  Matteson  —  non-committal  on  the  issue  — 
was  also  a  candidate,  and  drew  others  away.  On  a  rainy  day 
the  Democrats,  by  a  secret  understanding,  had  elected  one  of 
their  number  to  succeed  Lincoln,  and  that  made  the  tangle 
more  intricate.  Still,  Lincoln  might  have  won  the  prize  but 
for  the  obstinacy  of  three  insurgent  Democrats  —  John  M. 
Palmer,  Norman  Judd,  and  B.  C.  Cook  —  who  would  on  no 
account  vote  for  a  "Whig.  Steadfastly  they  voted  for  Lyman 
Trumbull,  who  was  a  Democrat  on  every  subject  but  the 
slavery  issue.  On  the  tenth  ballot,  amidst  great  excitement  2 

1  Iowa  Historical  Record    for  1896,  p.  497. 

2  For   a  description  of  the  scene  and  the  details  of  the  balloting,  see 
Lincoln  in  1854,  by  Horace  White,  pp.  15-19   (1908). 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD " 71 

and  after  a  formidable  show  of  strength,  Lincoln,  rather  than 
see  a  Nebraska  man  elected,  asked  his  friends  to  support  Trum- 
bull.  They  did  so  —  Judge  Logan  shedding  ' '  natural  tears ' '  as 
he  transferred  his  vote  —  and  Trumbull  was  elected.  As  for 
the  Democrats,  they  were  doubly  chagrined  that  Trumbull, 
whom  they  regarded  as  an  arch  traitor,  should  be  made  Sen 
ator,  and  that  Palmer,  Judd,  and  Cook  should  carry  off  the 
prize.  Writing  to  E.  B.  Washburne  the  day  after  the  election, 
Lincoln  said : 

I  regret  my  defeat  moderately,  but  am  not  nervous  about  it. 
I  could  have  headed  off  every  combination  and  been  elected 
had  it  not  been  for  Matteson  's  double  game  —  and  his  de 
feat  now  gives  me  more  pleasure  than  my  own  gives  me 
pain.  On  the  whole,  it  is  perhaps  as  well  for  our  general 
cause  that  Trumbull  is  elected.  The  Nebraska  men  confess 
that  they  hate  it  worse  than  anything  that  could  have  hap 
pened.  It  is  a  great  consolation  to  see  them  worse  whipped 
than  I  am. 

Ill 

In  the  meantime  —  that  is,  since  the  joint  debates  between  Lin 
coln  and  Douglas  —  Lovejoy,  Codding,  Herndon  and  others, 
had  been  working  to  bring  about  a  more  compact  and  cohesive 
fusion  of  the  anti-slavery  forces.  They  had  a  clear  view  of 
what  was  needed,  but  the  state  of  sentiment  in  the  central  and 
southern  counties  was  such  that  they  were  compelled  to  move 
with  caution,  feeling  their  way.  All  recognized  Lincoln  as  the 
leader,  by  virtue  of  his  genius  and  power,  but  he  moved  too 
slow  for  some  and  too  fast  for  others,  while  holding  himself 
somewhat  aloof.  In  this  way  Herndon  was  placed  in  a  posi 
tion  as  difficult  as  it  was  important,  where  he  had  to  assure 
impatient  and  impetuous  radicals  that  Lincoln  was  sound  in 
the  faith,  without  compromising  him  with  others  to  whom  the 
word  Abolitionist  was  the  most  hateful  word  in  the  language. 
Such  a  position  required  all  his  tact,  restraint,  and  cunning, 
and  it  is  but  just  that  the  nature  and  value  of  his  services  be 
recorded. 

He  was,  besides,  a  voluminous  letter  writer,  corresponding 


72 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

with  Garrison,  Phillips,  Giddings,  and  other  leaders  in  the 
East,  but  most  frequently  with  Theodore  Parker,  of  Boston  — 
his  ideal  theologian,  reformer,  and  orator.  For  years  he  had 
been  an  admirer  of  Parker,  reading  all  his  sermons  and  ad 
dresses,  some  of  which  he  induced  Lincoln  to  read — particular 
ly  the  "Discourse  Occasioned  by  the  Death  of  Daniel  Web 
ster,  ' '  which  Lincoln  thought  was  too  severe  on  Webster.  The 
eloquence  of  Parker  was  of  a  kind  that  appealed  to  Herndon 
—  vehement  and  redundant  with  frequent  purple  patches,  but 
bold,  fearless,  earnest,  and  vivid ;  for  the  pressure  of  many  activ 
ities  gave  him  little  time  to  polish  his  sentences.  This  style 
was  in  part  deliberate  with  Parker,  especially  at  this  period, 
with  the  intent  to  awaken  the  people.  When  the  Nebraska 
Bill  passed,  and  even  before  it  passed,  the  pulpit  of  Music  Hall 
became  a  sounding  board  for  indignation,  as  before  it  had  been 
for  the  protest  against  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  his  voice 
had  no  uncertain  ring.  Whereupon  the  western  lawyer  was 
moved  to  write  to  the  great  preacher,  expressing  his  hearty 
sympathy,  asking  for  books  to  read,  and  telling  of  the  way  the 
wind  was  blowing  in  the  West.  His  first  two  letters  were  after 
this  manner : 

Springfield,  111.,  May  13,   1854. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Sir : — I  wrote  to  you  once  when  I  first  became  acquainted 
with  your  writings.  I  then  had  but  a  few  of  them,  I  now 
have  them  all.  My  attachment  to  the  sentiments  is  stronger. 
I  may  say  I  am  pulled  to  them.  A  few  days  since  I  wrote  to 
Messrs.  Crosby  &  Nichols  to  send  me  two  books  —  one  on 
spiritualism  and  the  other  on  materialism  —  and  knowing 
your  tastes  I  preferred  your  judgment  to  others.  I  hope  you 
will  choose  the  two  best  books,  and  they  will  send.  If  you 
will  send  me  a  list  of  books  of  your  taste,  known  for  deep, 
rich  benevolence,  strong,  energetic  and  massive  language,  I 
will  send  and  get.  I  love  this  peculiar  kind  of  eloquence. 
May  I  say  you  are  my  ideal  —  strong,  direct,  energetic,  char 
itable. 

Your  attention  to  this  will  much  oblige  me.  Yet,  if  too 
much  trouble,  do  not  do  so.  I  did  not  in  my  letter  to  you 
give  the  proper  direction  —  superscription  —  and  for  which 
I  now  offer  apology.  Yours  truly, 

W.  H.  HERNDON. 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD" 73 

Springfield,  111.,  June  11,  1854. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir : — I  received  yours  of  May  22nd  and  your  ser 
mon  on  "Old  Age."  I  am  under  many  obligations  to  you 
both  for  letter  and  sermon.  Let  me  say  that  I  do  you  and 
Emerson,  or  rather  truth,  some  good  here.  I  have  made 
presents  of  your  sermons  and  some  of  Emerson 's  rather  than 
not  have  them  read.  I  hope  you  will  write  out  your  New 
York  speech  and  your  late  Boston  sermon.  The  country 
needs  moving  with  an  eloquent  and  enthusiastic  power.  If 
you  write  out  and  publish  please  send  me  a  copy. 

Yours  truly,          W.  H.  HERNDON. 

What  part  Parker  had  in  stirring  up  the  people  about  slavery 
after  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  is  familiar  to  all. 
With  astonishing  assiduity  he  went  through  the  Northern 
States,  enlightening  and  rousing  the  people  with  ponderous 
lectures  that  were  orations,  sermons,  arguments,  historical  dis 
quisitions,  harangues,  all  in  one,  winning  for  himself  the  title 
of  "chaplain  extraordinary  of  the  anti-slavery  movement." 
His  lecturing  field  touched  the  Southern  border,  and  once,  at 
least,  lapped  over  —  at  Wilmington,  Delaware,  where  he  was 
received  with  threats  and  sent  away  with  a  vote  of  thanks.1 
Herndon  wrote  asking  him  to  visit  Springfield  and  deliver  one 
or  more  lectures  the  following  winter ;  and  receiving  no  reply 
he  wrote  again : 

Springfield,  111.,  Jan.  5,  1855. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir : — Some  few  weeks  since  I  wrote  you  a  short  let 
ter  asking  you  therein  some  questions.  The  question  asked 
was  this :  Can  you  come  out  here  this  winter  and  deliver  us 
some  lectures?  We  have  a  good  hall  and  all  conveniences. 
The  letter  has  not  been  answered.  It  may  never  have 
reached  you.  ...  I  know  you  cannot  afford  to  come  out 
to  deliver  one  or  two  lectures  at  any  one  place,  but  if  you 
can  get  several  places  you  can.  .  .  .  Please  answer. 
Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

P.  S.  Our  Legislature  is  now  in  session.  Anti-Nebraska 
men  are  all  elected  —  those  who  fill  the  offices  of  speaker, 
clerks,  etc. —  a  perfectly  clean  sweep  of  slaveites  and  rum 
men. 


Theodore  Parker,  by  O.  B.  Frothingham,  pp.   376-440   (1874). 


74  LINCOLN  AND  HEKNDON 

But  Parker  was  too  much  engaged  to  promise  a  visit,  having 
become  entangled  with  the  courts  as  the  result  of  an  attempt 
to  rescue  a  fugitive  slave,  named  Anthony  Burns  —  a  kind  of 
pastoral  work  which  had  been  a  feature  of  his  ministry  since 
1842.1  The  story  of  the  rendition  of  Burns,  and  of  Parker's 
efforts  to  prevent  it,  would  easily  fill  a  book ;  but  it  failed.  The 
prisoner  was  marched  out  of  Boston,  over  the  spot  where  Gar 
rison  had  been  dragged  ' '  by  gentlemen  of  property  and  stand 
ing"  in  1835,  while  multitudes  looked  on,  summoned  by  a 
placard  written  by  Parker  "to  turn  out  and  line  the  streets 
and  look  upon  the  shame  and  disgrace  of  Boston."  Not  for 
this,  but  "for  obstructing,  resisting,  and  opposing  the  execu 
tion  of  the  law,"  Judge  B.  R.  Curtis  —  who  afterwards  op 
posed  the  Dred  Scott  decision  of  Judge  Taney  —  charged  the 
grand  jury  to  indict  those  who  had  offended.  Indictments  were 
found  against  Parker,  Phillips,  T.  W.  Higginson,  and  four 
others,  and  the  hearing  was  set  for  April  3,  1855.  Hence  the 
' '  trial ' '  referred  to  by  Parker  in  his  brief  reply  to  Herndon : 

Boston,  Mass.,  Jan.  15,  1854. 
W.  H.  Herndon,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir : — Your  former  letter  attended  to  in  the  note  of 
the  7th  inst.  came  to  hand  and  was  immediately  answered ; 
but  mine  miscarried,  I  suppose.  It  would  give  me  great 
pleasure  to  visit  Springfield  (and  other  towns  in  the  "West), 
but  I  have  no  time.  My  ' '  trial ' '  takes  place  in  March,  and  I 
make  no  engagements  after  that,  for  who  knows  where  I 
may  be !  Unless  we  exterminate  slavery  there  is  no  freedom 
possible.  We  are  doing  well  in  Massachusetts  just  now. 
Thanks  to  Illinois  for  her  good  heart.  Yours  truly, 

THEO.  PARKER. 


i  Much  of  Parker's  time  was  spent  in  such  activities,  brief  refer 
ences  to  which  occur  in  his  Journals.  But  for  the  whole  story  we  must 
go  to  his  sermons  and  letters,  which  fell  like  leaves  from  a  tree.  One 
picturesque  memorial  of  these  labors  is  a  scrap-book,  now  in  the  Boston 
Public  Library — "Memoranda  of  the  Troubles  Occasioned  by  the  In 
famous  Fugitive  Slave  Law  from  March  15th,  1851,  to  February  19th, 
1856," — half  of  which  is  made  up  of  posters,  evidently  written  by 
Parker  himself,  warning  fugitives  of  danger  and  summoning  their  friends 
to  the  rescue.  When  he  spoke  on  this  subject  his  words  took  fire  and 
blazed  like  sky-rockets. —  Theodore  ParTcer,  by  O.  B.  Frothingham  (1874). 
Also  Theodore  ParTcer,  Preacher  and  Reformer,  by  J.  W.  Chadwick  (1900). 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD " 75 

These  letters  —  now  to  be  interwoven  with  the  present  study  — 
continued  to  pass  to  and  fro  at  varying  intervals  until  Decem 
ber,  1859,  when  Parker  broke  down  and  became  a  wandering 
seeker  after  health.  Excerpts  from  the  letters  of  Parker  ap 
peared  in  his  biography  1  by  John  Weiss  in  1864,  which  is  now 
out  of  print,  but  the  letters  of  Herndon  have  never  before  been 
published.  They  have  to  do  with  the  men,  movements,  and 
events,  the  hopes,  fears,  and  dreams,  of  a  critical  and  stormy 
period  —  the  period,  that  is,  of  the  rise  of  Lincoln,  of  his  de 
bates  with  Douglas,  and  of  his  election  to  the  Presidency  — and 
they  let  light  behind  the  political  and  social  scenes  of  those 
years,  sometimes  in  a  startling  manner.  Their  characteriza 
tions  of  men  are  definitive  and  apt ;  their  criticisms  of  leaders, 
particularly  of  Douglas  and  Greeley,  are  sharp,  often  to  the 
point  of  injustice ;  while  their  prophecies  of  coming  events  are, 
at  times,  almost  uncanny.  Both  men  wrote  with  the  freedom 
and  abandon  of  private  correspondence,  without  mincing 
words,  and  their  letters,  especially  those  of  Herndon  which  are 
longer  and  more  numerous,  are  valuable  as  revelations  of  them 
selves  and  their  period.  It  is  here  that  we  discover,  as  only 
letters  can  disclose,  what  manner  of  man  Herndon  was  —  his 
crudities  and  refinements,  his  indignations,  his  enthusiasms, 
his  egotism  and  his  self  sacrifice,  his  love  of  books,  of  nature, 
and  of  man,  his  swift  and  vivid  intellect,  and  his  heart  of  fire. 
One  who  reads  these  letters  feels  that  Lincoln  was  wise  when 
he  decided  to  "stick  by  Billy  Herndon,"  no  matter  what  his 
enemies  said  against  him. 

Keplying  to  the  brief  note  from  Parker  about  his  trial,  Hern 
don  wrote  at  once  expressing  sympathy  and  assurance  of  vic 
tory,  reporting  at  the  same  time  the  election  of  Trumbull  to  the 
Senate.  He  also  enclosed  a  clipping  from  the  Sangamon  Jour 
nal,  a  report  of  his  valedictory  speech  as  mayor  of  Springfield, 
from  which  it  appears  that  he  had  been  active  in  behalf  of  muni 
cipal  economy,  while  purchasing  grounds  for  school  buildings 
in  each  of  the  wards  and  enforcing  a  prohibitory  ordinance 
against  the  dram-shops.  He  wrote : 

i  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Theodore  Parker,  by  John  Weiss,  in 
two  volumes  (1864). 


76 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Springfield,  111.,  Feb.  13,  1855. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir  :^-I  am  sorry  you  cannot  come  out  west  and  lec 
ture  for  us.  You  have,  however,  a  good  excuse.  Your 
trial  comes  on  in  March  and  I  hope  you  will  attend  to  it  as 
you  do  to  all  things.  Blast  slavery  if  you  can  —  aid  free 
dom  to  stand  erect,  and  with  the  forces  of  nature  floating 
everywhere  man  will  yet  evolve  goodness  and  develop  great 
ness  along  the  lines  of  time  and  in  the  realms  of  faith.  I 
know  nothing  I  desire  more  than  [the]  freedom  and  eleva 
tion  of  my  brother  man.  These  can  never  be  accomplished 
while  wrong  rules;  tyranny  or  freedom  must  dominate. 
They  are  now  struggling.  I  have  no  fears  as  to  which  will 
triumph.  I  know. 

Hope  you  will  get  good  counsel  and  attorneys  with  your 
self  and  go  to  trial  and  there  have  good  reporters  —  make 
speeches  and  send  out  to  the  world  for  us  young  men  to  read 
and  inhale  —  human  rights  drunk  in. 

During  the  election  here  and  before,  I  took  the  stump  and 
did  all  I  could  for  freedom  —  aided  the  press,  wrote  late 
and  early.1  All  I  wish  is,  that  I  could  do  it  over  every  No 
vember  of  my  life.  I  knew  during  the  election  that  if  the 
people  would  take  their  stand  on  their  religiousness  of  soul 
that  would  be  all  right.  They  took  that  stand  and  Illinois 
stands  redeemed.  Douglas  can  no  more  control  Illinois 
than  a  Hottentot  chief  can.  We  are  free.  When  we  can 
look  one  another  in  the  face  and  talk  on  the  question  with 
out  evasion  or  "eye-dropping"  you  may  know  all  is  right. 
We  are  in  that  condition.  I  may  not  go  as  far  as  some,  yet 
so  far  as  I  go  I  am  fixed. 

You  are  aware  that  Judge  Trumbull  is  now  our  U.  S. 
Senator.  He  was  elected  in  place  of  General  J.  Shields.  He 
is  anti-Nebraska;  anti-Douglas.  He  was  our  Judge  of  Su 
preme  Court  before  whom  I  have  often  spoken  in  the  capac 
ity  of  lawyer.  He  is  a  good  man,  no  demagogue,  and  a  per 
sonal  enemy  of  Douglas.  This  is  more  than  the  press  can  tell 
you.  Great  thorn,  rough  and  poisonous,  in  the  heart  of 
Douglas.  My  opinion  —  I  suppose  —  that  Trumbull  has 
pledged  himself  to  vote  against  the  admission  of  all  and 


1  Herndon  was,  as  he  here  says,  a  prolific  writer  of  editorials,  espe 
cially  for  the  Sangamon  Journal,  edited  by  his  friend,  Simeon  Francis. 
He  quotes  from  some  of  them  in  his  biography  of  Lincoln.  (Vol.  II,  p. 
378.)  Examples  of  his  editorial  work  will  be  given  later  from  those 
hitherto  unpublished.  Lincoln  also  used  the  papers  in  the  same  way, 
anonymously,  though  less  frequently. 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD"  77 

every  Slave  State  and  for  repeal  or  modification  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Bill. 

Our  Legislature  has  passed  a  Maine  law  —  I  am  for  it  as 
you  may  suppose  —  to  take  effect  if  the  people  vote  for  it. 
I  think  they  will.  They  will  north  and  here,  but  Egypt  — • 
good  gracious!  Passed  or  about  to  pass  a  law  to  give  the 
blacks  their  tax  money  to  appropriate  to  schools,  as  our  law 
does  not  allow  blacks  to  come  to  school  with  whites. 

After  your  trial  is  over  I  hope  you  or  others  will  publish 
in  book  form  the  speeches  made  for  you  and  the  evidence  in 
your  case,  or  containing  the  whole  case,  and  send  out  to  the 
world.  I  have  not  two  of  your  speeches  or  sermons  made  in 
New  York,  I  think  in  New  York,  and  would  like  to  have  them 
very  much.  One  was  published  in  the  Times  some  time  in 
March  or  April,  1854,  and  the  other  I  have  heard  of.  If  you 
will  send  them  I  will  pay  you  somehow  or  other.  I  am 
surprised  at  running  this  letter  out,  yet  I  had  no  time  to 
alter.  Yours  respectfully,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Issues  crowded  fast,  and  with  the  passage  by  the  Legislature 
of  a  Maine  law  to  be  submitted  to  popular  vote  the  State  was 
immediately  convulsed  by  an  exciting  prohibition  campaign. 
Pulpits  thundered,  women  and  children  paraded,  orators 
emitted  blazing  rhetoric  —  Abolitionists  linking  liquor  with 
slavery  as  kindred  crimes,  and  "personal  liberty"  advocates 
identifying  Prohibition  hysteria  with  Abolition  fanaticism  — 
while  politicians  ran  to  cover.  Lincoln  —  neither  Prohibition 
ist  nor  Abolitionist  —  held  aloof,  not  wishing  to  divert  atten 
tion  from  the  supreme  question  of  the  age;  but  Herndon 
plunged  into  the  thick  of  the  fight,  writing  and  speaking  with 
all  the  more  zeal  because  liquor  was  his  personal  enemy  — 
though  it  must  be  said  that  during  his  term  as  mayor  he  had 
been  singularly  abstemious.  As  he  had  predicted  to  Parker, 
the  northern  counties  voted  for  the  law  and  Egypt  against  it. 
No  offices  were  at  stake  and  there  was  not  a  full  vote,  but  the 
Germans  turned  out  to  a  man,  and,  it  was  charged,  also  to  a 
woman,  and  killed  Prohibition  in  Illinois  for  nearly  a  genera 
tion.1  In  the  midst  of  the  campaign  Herndon  wrote  to  Parker, 
sending  him  a  Prohibition  speech  which  has  not  been  preserved : 

i  Memoirs  of  Gustave  Koerner,  edited  by  T.  J.  McCormack,  Vol.  I, 
pp.  620-623   (1909). 


78 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Springfield,  111.,  April  12,  1855. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir : — Some  few  days  since  I  sent  you  a  small  pam 
phlet  on  Temperance.  I  herewith  send  you  a  little  speech 
of  mine.  Put  them  by  for  the  present  and  read  at 
your  leisure.  I  know  your  trial  takes  up  your  time.  To 
expect  otherwise  would  be  foolish.  Our  State  Register  — 
slaveite,  whiskey  paper  —  attacked  our  prohibitory  law  and 
I  was  called  on  to  defend.  .  .  .  The  people  around  me 
would  make  me  publish  in  pamphlet  form.  The  editors 
published  on  their  own  accord.  I  never  saw  the  proofs  after 
original  writing.  Blunders  you  will  excuse.  I  pray  for 
your  complete  acquittal  and  justification,  triumph,  etc.,  in 
your  trial.  Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Parker  had  spent  much  time  in  the  preparation  of  his  defense 
in  the  expectation  of  a  serious  affair,  but  there  was  no  trial. 
His  counsel  moved  that  the  indictment  be  quashed,  and  after 
a  brief  argument  Judge  Curtis  pronounced  that  it  be  so,  as 
defective.  Not  to  be  outdone,  Parker  elaborated  and  pub 
lished  his  " Defense,"  and  while  it  lost  much  of  its  popular 
effect  by  losing  all  its  practical  utility,  it  was  a  memorable  plea 
for  liberty  and  justice.1  It  was,  in  fact,  a  history  of  slavery 
aggression  in  America,  worked  out  with  a  fullness  of  historical 
and  legal  knowledge  only  surpassed  by  its  genius  for  invective. 
No  doubt  the  court  foresaw  this  storm-cloud  of  eloquence  and 
wished  to  avert  it;  for  in  its  published  form  Parker's  denun 
ciation  reached  its  height  in  handling  the  Curtis  family  for 
its  connection  with  the  subserviency  of  Boston  to  the  Slave 
Power.  Herndon,  in  writing  to  congratulate  Parker,  so  in 
terpreted  the  intention  of  the  court : 

Springfield,  111.,  April  23,  1855. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir: — Let  me  congratulate  you  upon  your  escape 
from  the  inquisition  of  slavery.  Every  man  is  happy  at  the 
result  —  breathes  a  little  easier.  Let  me  say  to  you  that  it 
was  not  Curtis  who  quashed  the  indictment,  but  the  King 
South.  The  South  are  not  fools.  They  see  which  way  the 
wind  blows,  and  have  done  this  out  of  fear.  Fear  and  in 
terest  are  some  men's  patriotism,  chivalry  —  all. 


The  Trial  of  Theodore  Parker,  with  the  Defense   (1855). 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD " 79 

I  sent  you  some-  time  since  a  small  pamphlet  on  temper 
ance  —  a  small  speech  —  a  small  leader  in  one  of  our  dailies, 
and  herewith  I  send  another.  I  will  trouble  you  no  more. 
I  did  these  things  to  let  you  know  that  so  far  as  I  could  do 
good,  I  was  doing  it. 

This  grand  outrage  on  Kansas  will  ring  in  the  ears  of 
this  dead  nation  yet.  I  think  the  North  is  yet  to  wake  and 
breathe.  Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

P.  S..  Mr.  Parker,  if  you  see  any  expressions  in  those 
pieces  which  are  yours  in  essence,  remember,  you  impressed 
the  hard  steel  upon  a  softer  plate. 

IV 

Kansas  was  in  the  throes  of  civil  strife,  and  the  shock  was  be 
ing  felt  throughout  the  country,  foreboding,  as  many  feared, 
"the  knell  of  the  Union."  Armed  bands  of  ruffians  were 
crossing  the  border  from  Missouri  for  the  purpose  of  seizing 
the  election  machinery  and  through  it  forcing  Kansas  into 
slavery  by  fraud  and  violence,  while  immigrants  from  the 
North,  sent  forward  by  colonization  societies,  began  to  pour 
in  with  the  design  of  making  it  a  Free  State.  Some  of  the 
Missourians  settled  upon  fertile  and  valuable  lands,  and  others 
roved  over  the  prairies,  burning,  shooting,  and  pillaging  with 
impunity.  The  forces  sent  by  President  Pierce  to  restore 
order  only  served  to  augment  the  strife,  since  they  were  avow 
edly  active  in  behalf  of  slavery.  Kansas  was  unsuited  for 
slave-labor,  as  Webster  had  pointed  out,  and  the  struggle  was 
for  this  reason  futile,  but  partisan  rancor  egged  on  the  con 
flict.  The  South  was  excited  and  aggressive,  and  the  senti 
ment  of  the  North  was  gathering  to  enter  its  protest  at  the 
ballot-box  against  what  Sumner  called  "the  crime  against  Kan 
sas." 

In  his  Peoria  speech  Lincoln  had  given  a  striking  descrip 
tion  of  the  colliding  elements,  and  then  added  a  deep-toned 
prophetic  forecast  of  blood  and  violence.  With  what  keen  eye 
he  was  watching  the  struggle,  measuring  its  forces  and  fore 
casting  its  results,  may  be  seen  in  his  letter  to  his  friend  Joshua 
Speed,  of  Kentucky  —  one  of  the  most  significant  of  all  his 


80 LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 

letters  despite  its  tone  of  almost  cynical  hardness.  Speed  had 
said  that  sooner  than  yield  his  right  to  own  slaves,  especially 
at  the  bidding  of  those  who  were  not  themselves  interested,  he 
would  see  the  Union  dissolved,  but  he  was  equally  positive  that 
the  men  who  had  precipitated  violence  and  fraud  in  Kansas 
ought  to  be  hung.  Lincoln  replied  —  and  he  always  wrote 
more  confidentially  to  Speed  than  to  any  other  man  —  that  he 
did  not  question  the  legal  right  of  his  friend  to  own  slaves, 
though  both  admitted  the  abstract  wrong  of  it,  and  added : 

It  is  not  fair  for  you  to  assume  that  I  have  no  interest  in  a 
thing  which  has,  and  continually  exercises,  the  power  of 
making  me  miserable.  You  ought  rather  to  appreciate  how 
much  the  great  body  of  the  Northern  people  do  crucify  their 
feelings,  in  order  to  maintain  their  loyalty  to  the  Constitu 
tion  and  the  Union.  .  .  .  You  say,  if  you  were  President, 
you  would  send  an  army  and  hang  the  leaders  of  the  Mis 
souri  outrages  upon  the  Kansas  elections;  still,  if  Kansas 
fairly  votes  herself  a  Slave  State  she  must  be  admitted,  or 
the  Union  must  be  dissolved.  But  how  if  she  votes  herself 
a  Slave  State  unfairly,  that  is,  by  the  very  means  for  which 
you  say  you  would  hang  men  ?  Must  she  still  be  admitted, 
or  the  Union  dissolved?  That  will  be  the  phase  of  the  ques 
tion  when  it  first  becomes  a  practical  one.  In  your  assump 
tion  that  there  may  be  a  fair  decision  of  the  slavery  question 
in  Kansas,  I  plainly  see  that  you  and  I  would  differ  about 
the  Nebraska  law.  I  look  upon  that  enactment  not  as  a  law, 
but  as  a  violence  from  the  beginning.  It  was  conceived  in 
violence,  and  is  being  executed  by  violence.  .  .  .  You  say 
men  ought  to  be  hung  for  the  way  they  are  executing  the 
law ;  I  say  .  .  .  it  is  being  executed  in  the  precise  way 
which  was  intended  from  the  first,  else  why  does  no  Nebras 
ka  man  express  astonishment  or  condemnation  ?  .  .  .  If ,  like 
Haman,  they  should  hang  upon  the  gallows  of  their  own 
building,  I  shall  not  be  among  the  mourners  for  their  fate. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Republican  party  had  been  organized,  in 
its  first  stages  at  least,  in  1854,  but  Lincoln  was  not  yet  a  mem 
ber  of  it.  Nor  did  he  become  a  member  of  it  until  Herndon 
actually  forced  him  into  it  in  1856.  They  err  who  say  that  he 
was  a  leader  in  the  movement  directly,  since  he  was  always  dis 
couraging  anything  that  savored  of  haste.  Indeed,  when  he 
wrote  to  Speed  under  date  of  August,  1855,  he  confessed  him- 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD " 81 

self  to  be  a  man  without  a  party,  though  still  clinging  bravely 
to  the  wreck  of  the  old  Whig  ship.  The  letter  is  valuable  in 
that  it  reveals  not  only  his  own  hesitancy,  but  his  clear  vision 
of  the  situation  in  the  South : 

You  say  that  if  Kansas  fairly  votes  herself  a  Free  State  as  a 
Christian  you  will  rejoice  at  it.  All  decent  slave-holders 
talk  that  way,  and  I  do  not  doubt  their  candor.  But  they 
never  vote  that  way.  Although  in  private  letter  and  con 
versation  you  will  express  your  preference  that  Kansas  shall 
be  free,  you  would  vote  for  no  man  for  Congress  who  would 
say  the  same  thing  publicly.  No  such  man  could  be  elected 
from  any  district  in  a  Slave  State.  .  .  .  The  slave-breeders 
and  slave-traders  are  a  small,  odious  and  detested  class 
among  you;  and  yet  in  politics  they  dictate  the  course  of 
all  of  you,  and  are  as  completely  your  masters  as  you  are 
the  master  of  your  own  negroes. 

You  inquire  where  I  now  stand.  That  is  a  disputed 
point.  I  think  I  am  a  Whig;  but  others  say  there  are  no 
Whigs,  and  that  I  am  an  Abolitionist.  When  I  was  at  Wash 
ington,  I  voted  for  the  Wilmot  Proviso  as  good  as  forty-two 
times ;  and  I  never  heard  of  any  one  attempting  to  unwhig 
me  for  that.  I  now  do  no  more  than  oppose  the  extension  of 
slavery.  I  am  not  a  Know-Nothing ;  that  is  certain.  How 
could  I  be?  How  can  any  one  who  abhors  the  oppression 
of  negroes  be  in  favor  of  degrading  classes  of  white  people  ? 
Our  progress  in  degeneracy  appears  to  me  to  be  pretty  rap 
id.  As  a  nation  we  began  by  declaring  that  "all  men  are 
created  equal."  We  now  practically  read  it  "all  men  are 
created  equal,  except  negroes. ' '  When  the  Know-Nothings 
get  control,  it  will  read  "all  men  are  created  equal  except 
negroes  and  foreigners  and  Catholics."  When  it  comes  to 
this,  I  shall  prefer  emigrating  to  some  country  where  they 
make  no  pretense  of  loving  liberty  —  to  Russia,  for  instance, 
where  despotism  can  be  taken  pure,  and  without  the  base 
alloy  of  hypocrisy. 

None  the  less,  scouts  were  manceuvering  in  advance,  and  Lin 
coln  surveyed  their  operations  with  solicitude,  albeit  from  the 
rear,  not  wishing  to  run  too  far  ahead  of  the  slow,  apathetic 
masses  without  whom  no  real  advance  could  be  made.  Of 
what  those  daring  and  indefatigable  scouts  were  doing  Hern- 
don  kept  Parker  informed,  occasionally  dipping  his  pen  in  fire 


82 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

the  better  to  blister  Douglas.     With  characteristic  vividness 
and  enthusiasm  he  wrote : 

Springfield,  111.,  Oct.  30,  1855. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir: — It  has  been  some  time  since  I  wrote  to  you; 
and  you  can  well  afford  to  be  "pestered"  once  in  a  long 
while.  This  is  especially  so  from  your  western  friend. 

First:  We  in  Illinois  are  now  just  commencing  a  sys 
tematic  organization  of  Republicanism,  and  hope  to  see  it 
inaugurated  into  a  vital,  eternal,  political  power  in  the  State, 
which  shall  cover  us  as  nature  wraps  up  her  modest  flower 
or  gigantic  mountain.  In  this  part  or  central  portion  of  the 
State  we  are  backward,  timid  and  cowardly  The  reason  is 
this :  Most  of  us  are  from  the  South  and  I  among  them,  yet 
so  far  as  the  slavery  question  is  concerned  we  are  most  em 
phatically  opposed  to  it,  its  aggressions,  or  its  spread.  An 
other  cause  is,  that  our  able  politicians  are  waiting  to  see 
the  reverse  side  and  the  obverse  picture,  and  because  they 
flinch  or  draw  back  the  people  are  not  disposed  to  move,  but 
it  strikes  me  there  was  or  is  no  better  time  than  last  year  or 
this;  because  I  intuitively  feel,  if  not  see,  that  the  people 
are  ready  and  anxious  to  leap  into  an  organization  that  has 
justice  and  equity  wrought  into  vital  activity.  This  is  the 
scrupulous,  timid  fault  of  wary  politicians  who  are  seeking 
equilibrium,  they  know  not  where,  and  the  people  who  are 
accustomed  to  be  led  and  not  to  lead,  do  not  want  to  go  for 
ward;  and  so  between  the  cowardice  of  some  and  the  want 
of  confidence  in  others,  this  political  rest  or  static  power  in 
the  mass  follows.  I  hope  to  see  them  dynamical,  vital,  ac 
tive,  soon. 

Mr.  Douglas  was  here  a  few  weeks  since  and  addressed 
us  in  one  of  his  speeches,  known  for  power  of  a  peculiar  na 
ture  ;  namely,  energy,  duplicity  and  dexterity,  driven  by  an 
abandon  fired  by  rum  —  in  short,  a  low,  base,  hellish  effort 
at  renaissance.  It  may  be  seen  in  his  face,  that  conscious 
ruin  has  seized  him  and  like  Milton 's  hero  in  Paradise  Lost 
he  will  do  all  he  can  to  regain  his  blissful  seat.  You  can 
picture  the  sight.  You  may  think  I  hate  the  man.  I  can 
gay  I  do  not ;  yet  I  do  loathe  him,  and  I  cannot  help  it.  If 
I  love  man,  his  progress ;  if  I  look  upward  and  outward,  and 
hope  for  man,  let  me  ask  you  the  question:  How  can  I  do 
otherwise  ?  Has  he  not  tried  to  sell  me  and  man,  in  the  in 
dividual  and  species,  to  this  same  Slave  Power  which  I  hate 
and  yet  fear ;  and  if  this  is  so,  how  can  I  help  my  feelings  ? 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD"  83 

Mr.  Douglas  is  generally  followed  by  Lyman  Trumbull,  his 
equal  in  many  particulars,  but  not  in  the  low  specialties. 
Mr.  Lincoln  sometimes  follows.  Illinois  is  the  battle  ground 
for  the  Slave  Power  and  for  the  Republicans  too.  Here  is  to 
be  the  fight.  Mr.  Giddings  was  here  soon  after  Mr.  Doug 
las,  and  spoke  in  the  Metropolitan  Hall,  yet  he  did  not  speak 
with  eloquence  and  power.  He  spoke  very  calmly  and 
truthfully,  but  for  the  crowd  it  was  not  what  it  ought  to  be. 
I  suppose  he  was  cramped,  not  knowing  how  to  feel  out  for 
the  sentiment  of  the  mass.  I  may  be  mistaken,  but  I  do 
candidly  believe  the  speakers  miss  the  mark  by  shooting  too 
low,  under  the  cross  in  the  target,  and  therefore  do  not  win. 
Excuse  the  Western  figure.  There  is  a  great  ground-swell, 
an  under-current,  a  wave  from  the  infinite,  the  older  poli 
ticians  do  not  feel  it  seems  to  me. 

We  had  Henry  Ward  Beecher  here  a  few  nights  since : 
he  is  a  man.  He  spoke  upon  the  progressive  and  conserva 
tive  man  or  age,  and  if  I  know  what  eloquence,  not  of  the 
highest  and  grandest  order,  is,  he  certainly  had  it.  He  was 
intense  in  his  passages  of  sympathy  and  energetic  in  his 
reprobation  of  conservative  cowardice ;  and  as  a  general  rule 
his  views  were  correct,  just  and  lofty,  yet  it  seemed  to  me  he 
hung  fire  —  did  not  say  all  he  felt.  Is  he  not  of  your  faith 
and  is  he  not  too  cowardly  to  come  out  —  speak  out  like  a 
brave  man?  It  seems  to  me  so.  He  will  do  good.  He 
looks  a  man  and  I  suppose  his  Heaven-warrant  does  not  de 
ceive.  The  crowd  was  wrapped  up  in  H.  Ward  Beecher. 
He  is  hopeful,  somewhat  ideal. 

As  I  wrote  you  once  before,  we  got  badly  beaten  in  our 
temperance  move,  and  the  reason  is  that  human  rights 
float  in  the  bubbles  of  whiskey  which  swim  upon  the  fire 
surface.  Though  defeated  we  are  not  conquered.  It  is 
very  hard  to  overcome  interest,  appetite,  habit,  and  the  low 
demagogue  who  rules  the  synod  in  the  grocery. 

I  am  glad  to  see  Sumner  publishing  the  third  volume  of 
speeches.  They  are  eloquent,  chaste,  classic.  I  admire  Mr. 
Sumner  very  much :  he  is  a  man  all  over,  inward  and  out 
ward,  from  head  to  foot.  I  speak  of  him  at  a  distance,  for 
I  am  not  personally  acquainted  with  him.  I  see  that  Em 
erson  is  publishing  his  English  notes.  They  will  be  a  rich 
treat  to  us  young  men;  they  will  be  eloquent  and  grand, 
poetic,  ideal. 

I  sometime  since  got  your  two  recent  volumes  of  speeches, 
etc.,  and  the  one  at  Abingdon  is  a  prophecy  fulfilled.  The 
Tribune  is  exactly  where  it  was  placed.  Kane  in  that  or  an- 


84 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

other  is  placed  where  it  was  predicted.  Slavery  by  judicial 
legerdemain  is  sought  to  be  made  national.  Will  it  tri 
umph?  The  spirit  within  says  no.  Has  not  slavery  gone 
too  far  —  done  too  much  —  been  too  imperious?  I  think 
it  has.  Let  it  die  and  rot  in  the  tropic  heats ! 

We  had  Mr.  Millburn,  the  blind  preacher,  here  last  night 
and  will  have  him  again  tonight :  his  subjects,  "Young  Am 
erica,  ' '  and  ' '  The  Rifle,  Axe  and  Saddle  Bags. ' '  He  speaks 
handsomely,  beautifully.  Can  you  not  come  and  see  Illi 
nois  some  time  this  winter  and  give  us  a  lecture  or  so? 
Friend  G-reeley  did  well  here.  Beecher  did  well.  Can  you 
not  come  out?  Yours,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Like  so  many  men  of  his  ardent  and  idealistic  type,  Herndon 
seems  to  have  believed  in  the  nobility  of  the  human  race  as  a 
whole  and  in  the  total  depravity  of  many  of  its  individual  mem 
bers.  But,  as  one  of  his  friends  said,  he  was  "violently  all 
right. ' '  He  lacked  that  judicial  sense  which  discriminates  be 
tween  varying  shades  of  good  and  ill,  so  that  all  things  ap 
peared  either  white  or  black.  That  was  not  so  bad  as  the  moral 
blindness  which  confounds  white  and  black;  yet  it  involved 
some  measure  of  injustice,  and  generally  rubbed  the  fur  the 
wrong  way.  But  he  had  nerves  in  his  intellect,  red  blood  in 
his  moral  passion,  and  fire  in  his  soul ;  and  in  these  respects  he 
resembled  Parker,  who  replied  one  month  later : 

Boston,  Mass.,  Nov.  30,  1855. 
Mr.  Herndon. 

Dear  Sir: — Your  kind  note  of  30th  ult.  came  to  Boston 
when  I  was  in  the  West  and  so  I  have  had  no  moment  to  an 
swer  it  until  this  and  now  only  a  brief  minute. 

I  intend  next  autumn,  say  October  or  November,  to  visit 
the  farther  part  of  the  Western  States,  Wisconsin,  Iowa, 
Minnesota,  etc.  I  should  like  to  speak  at  Springfield.  I 
wish  we  had  a  dozen  men  like  Beecher.  What  a  noble  fel 
low  he  is  —  a  live  minister.  A  minister  who  believes  in 
making  men  manly  and  thinks  religion  is  noble  life !  I  take 
it  the  North  will  have  two  candidates  in  the  next  Presiden 
tial  election,  one  Republican,  one  Know-Nothing ;  the  latter 
will  get  the  most  votes  but  will  be  defeated.  But  good  will 
be  done  —  the  "American  Party"  is  bringing  out  men  in 
the  South  who  have  been  disfranchised  hitherto.  They  are 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD"  85 

the  "poor  white:"  they  have  no  newspapers,  no  organiza 
tion,  no  self-respect.  The  Know-Nothings  enable  them  to 
meet  and  act  together.  By  and  by  this  Southern  element 
will  help  us.  I  expect  another  violent  slavery  President 
with  a  strong  opposition  in  the  House  and  before  long  in  the 
Senate.  Mexico  will  fall  into  our  hands  even,  I  think,  be 
fore  1860.  Then  in  1860  comes  the  real  struggle  between 
the  North  and  South.  Freedom  and  Slavery !  I  think  not 
before. 

I  have  just  got  my  defense  out.  It  makes  an  8vo  volume 
of  250  pages.  Yours  hastily  but  truly, 

THEO.  PARKER. 

By  the  time  he  replied  Herndon  had  read  the  "Defense," 
which  he  pronounced  a  masterpiece,  as  he  did  nearly  every 
thing  that  Parker  wrote.  As  usual  his  letter  throbs  with  his 
hatred  of  slavery,  but  is  touched  with  love  for  the  people  of  the 
South,  his  kinsmen,  many  of  whom  he  knew  to  be  Abolitionists 
at  heart,  or  at  least  opposed  to  slavery.  He  thinks  it  probable 
that  the  South  will  absorb  Mexico  after  the  Union  is  dissolved, 
not  before.  Both  men  are  full  of  prophecies  of  distant  calam 
ity,  while  Lincoln  and  men  of  his  type  were  looking  at  the  near 
er  scene,  content  to  take  one  step  at  a  time.  But  many  of  their 
predictions  were  tragically  fulfilled: 

Springfield,  111.,  Feb.  16,  1856. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Djsar  Sir: — I  received  your  favor  some  time  since,  and 
would  have  answered  but  was  busy  in  our  Supreme  Court 
attending  to  business.  I  hardly  think  with  you  in  respect 
to  the  action  of  the  North.  My  opinion  is,  that  the  North 
will  now  endure  no  more  of  Southern  insolence  and  wrong ; 
and  further,  I  think  I  know  the  Southern  blood,  and  from 
that  knowledge  I  know  they  will,  when  the  fighting  point 
comes,  cringe  and  crawl  away.  They  can  bluster  and  swag 
ger  ;  but  there  is  an  unboastful,  serene  calmness  in  Northern 
bravery  which  paralyzes  their  heated  and  inflated  courage. 
I  have  been  a  boy,  and  have  often  quailed  before  this  spirit. 
This  is  universal  to  all  men,  and  the  South  are  no  exceptions 
to  the  universals  of  humanity.  I  am  proud  of  my  adopted 
section,  for  her  philosophical,  mathematic  courage,  that 
knows  no  cold,  no  heat,  but  eternal  justice.  The  North, 
thank  the  stars,  is  erect,  that  is,  men  of  the  North,  showing 


86 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

they  have  not  forgotten  principles,  the  only  thing  that  is 
permanent  or  beautiful ;  all  else  rots  in  time. 

I  think  the  action  and  courage  exhibited  in  the  election 
of  Banks  show  which  way  we  may  now  look  for  the  true 
moral  courage.  I  think  the  charm  is  shivered  "like  thin 
glass. ' '  The  prestige  of  the  South  is  gone,  and  I  pray  God 
never  to  return.  Her  institutions  are  wrong  —  ridiculously 
unjust,  Heaven-defying ;  and  if  the  recent  lesson  can  teach 
her  only  justice  to  the  North,  and  the  rights  of  man,  I  will 
be  more  than  pleased.  Another  illustration  is  the  men  of 
Lawrence;  their  coolness,  bravery,  and  a  sense  of  justice, 
awed  a  drunken  rabble  incited  by  a  drunken  politician. 
The  North  are  up. 

I  hate  slavery:  one  word  long  years  ago  did  it.  My 
father  was  asked  in  my  presence  why  he  left  Virginia,  and 
then  Kentucky.  He  answered:  That  "my  labor  should 
never  be  degraded  by  competition  with  slave-labor."  I 
must,  however,  confess  that  it,  the  hate,  grows  —  develops 
as  principles  are  understood,  as  duty  and  obligation  to  hu 
manity  are  opened  to  me ;  as  my  soul  expands  to  its  responsi 
bilities.  I  once  said  to  you  that  I  did  not  go  so  far  as  some 
did.  I  move,  not  backward.  Is  there  any  safe,  great  ever 
lasting  position  this  side  of  principle  ?  Where  is  that  point  ? 
Shall  it  stop  with  class?  Shall  it  like  truth  sheet  the  uni 
verse  of  man?  These  are  questions  which  stare  a  man  in 
the  face. 

I  love  the  South,  and  cannot  help  it;  there  is  something 
open,  manly,  chivalrous  to  draw  me.  But  I  hope  I  can  draw 
a  line  between  an  institution  and  men.  From  my  own 
knowledge  there  are  a  great  number  of  men  in  the  South 
that  silently  pray  for  Northern  success  —  dare  not  say  it 
aloud.  Not  only  the  poor  whites,  but  many  others  who  are 
rich  but  do  not  and  will  not  own  slaves,  are  with  us  in  feel 
ing.  /  know  this.  I  have  heard  them  curse  us  Northern 
men  most  heartily  when  we  would  ' '  cave  in, ' '  as  they  called 
it.  Let  me  say  here,  that  in  so  saying,  they  would  look 
around  the  room  to  see  if  any  spies  were  looking  or  if  any 
hired  negro  heard  it.  Slavery  is  the  most  terrible  thing  in 
the  world.  I  say  that  I  love  the  South,  and  will  never  in 
jure  her.  I  love  her  men  and  cannot  help  it.  I  draw  a  line 
between  her  citizens  and  her  institutions. 

When  I  wrote  you  to  come  out  here  and  lecture  I  did  not 
know  you  were  in  Chicago,  but  learned  so  a  few  days  after 
I  wrote.  I  was  really  sorry  when  I  received  the  news  of 
your  prior  engagement.  I  hope  you  will  come  out  in  Octo- 


"THE  GENIUS  OF  DISCORD " 87 

her  or  November,  1856,  and  talk  to  us.  We,  the  citizens,  in 
tend  to  try  to  engage  some  of  the  best  men  to  lecture  here 
this  next  fall  and  winter.  The  feat  was  tried  on  an  ortho 
dox  scale.  You  may  know  how  it  ended. 

Do  you  think  that  Mexico  will  fall  into  our  hands  about 
1860  ?  I  think  not.  My  reasons  in  short  are  —  the  North 
ern  courage  showed  this  winter  throughout  the  Free  States 
has  rather  taken  the  Southern  men  back,  and  they  will  not 
move  in  the  matter  till  we  forget  our  triumphs  in  our  lethar 
gy.  The  policy  of  the  South  will  be  for  years  fawning, 
flattering,  corrupting,  till  her  day  comes  again,  and  then 
"she  will  do  her  best."  If  this  policy  isn't  pursued  the 
Union  will  be  dissolved,  and  a  Southern  Confederacy  will 
be  formed.  Then  the  South  may  absorb  Mexico,  not  this 
Union,  so  soon  as  1860.  However,  our  present  energy  and 
intensity  may  fuse  away  before  1860,  and  then  you  may  be 
correct.  I  paid  attention  to  what  you  said. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  is  decidedly  a  new  man,  a  new 
species  of  man.  He  is  strong,  vigorous,  original,  brave. 
He  will  do  the  world  good  yet.  He  is  a  new  rose,  fresh  from 
the  garden  of  the  almighty  forces.  This  age  was  fortunate 
in  having  so  beautiful  a  present.  He  is  a  man  —  "a  fresh 
minister. ' ' 

I  received  your  "Defense"  and  have  carefully  read  it; 
it  is  good ;  it  is  didactic,  but  powerful ;  it  will  live.  It  may 
say  way  down  the  ages,  ' '  I  still  live, ' '  when  it  is  yet  fresh  — 
not  on  a  death-bed.  Hope  to  see  your  work  soon  on  "Re 
ligious  Development, "--  hope  to  see  Emerson's  "English 
Traits  ' '  soon  —  comes  slowly.  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

At  heart,  both  Parker  and  Herndon  were  of  womanly  gentle 
ness.  Their  hatred  of  hurtful  errors  and  practical  wrongs 
was  kept  at  white  heat  by  a  genuine  love  of  mankind,  and  for 
all  their  arraignments  and  castigations  they  had  no  malice  or 
bitterness  of  spirit.  They  did  not  look  on  oppression,  fraud, 
and  misery  as  abstractions,  to  be  contemplated  with  philosophic 
calmness.  They  saw  living  men,  women,  and  children  ex 
posed,  suffering,  and  degraded,  and  their  hearts  quivered  with 
in  them. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Herndon  and  Parker 


When  great  questions  come  in  little  questions  are  crowded 
out,  but  they  are  sometimes  unnecessarily  slow  in  making 
their  exit.  As  the  Slave  Power  became  more  daring  and 
insolent,  opposition  to  it  grew  steadily  stronger  every  day, 
and  the  various  orders  of  anti-slavery  advocates  were  drawn 
ever  closer  together.  Old  party  ties  were  still  clinging;  but 
the  liberal  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  for  the  sake  of  principle 
became  daily  more  manifest,  while  the  men  of  all  parties  — 
Whigs,  Abolitionists,  Liberty  men,  and  even  Democrats  — 
showed  themselves  willing  to  surrender  their  old  parties  for 
one  which  should  take  the  right  kind  of  stand  against  the 
spread  of  slavery.  Not  otherwise  could  they  hope  for  suc 
cess  in  Illinois  or  for  any  great  influence  in  the  nation. 

At  length  the  time  seemed  ripe  for  such  a  movement,  and 
the  preliminary  step  was  taken  at  a  gathering  of  Anti-Ne 
braska  editors,  held  at  Decatur  in  February,  1856.  Eleven 
delegates  were  present,1  among  whom  were  Charles  H.  Kay 
of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  Paul  Selby  of  the  Jacksonville  Jour 
nal,  W.  J.  Usrey  of  the  Decatur  Chronicle,  and  George  Sny- 
der  of  the  Chicago  Staats-Zeitung;  and  they  proceeded  at 
once  to  the  discussion  of  the  principles  upon  which  such  an 
organization  should  be  built.  All  agreed  that  the  Slave  States 
should  be  sustained  in  all  the  rights  guaranteed  to  them  by 
the  Constitution,  and  in  disclaiming  any  desire  to  interfere 
with  slavery  where  it  existed.  With  such  admissions,  they 

i  For  a  complete  list  of  the  editors  who  took  part  in  this  conference, 
See  Moses's  Illinois,  Historical  and  Statistical,  Vol.  II,  p.  598  (1889- 
1892). 


HEBNDON  AND  PABKEB 89 

passed  resolutions  "  in  favor  of  the  restoration  of  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  or  in  other  words,  that  we  will  strive  by 
all  legal  means  to  restore  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska  a  legal 
guarantee  against  slavery,  of  which  they  were  deprived  at 
the  cost  of  the  violation  of  the  plighted  faith  of  the  nation; 
that  we  hold  the  settlement  of  the  true  relations  of  the  gen 
eral  and  State  governments  to  slavery,  and  the  restriction 
of  slavery  to  its  present  authorized  limits,  as  the  paramount 
questions  for  consideration."  They  advocated,  in  addition, 
certain  reforms  in  the  administration  of  State  affairs. 

Upon  such  a  basis  the  new  party  was  to  stand,  and  to  per 
fect  its  organization  a  State  convention  was  recommended, 
which  should  meet  at  Bloomington  on  May  29th,  following. 
A  State  Central  Committee  of  eleven  was  appointed  to  super 
vise  the  interests  of  the  party,  W.  H.  Herndon  to  represent 
the  Springfield  district,  with  two  for  the  State  at  large,  Ira 
O.  "Wilkinson  and  Gustave  Koerner,  then  Lieutenant  Gov 
ernor.  But  Governor  Koerner  declined  to  serve,  and  in  an 
open  letter  in  the  Belleville  Advocate  set  forth  his  reasons, 
while  declaring  himself  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  sentiment 
of  the  meeting  regarding  slavery  and  expressing  the  utmost 
abhorrence  for  the  idea  "  that  the  Constitution  of  the  freest 
country  on  earth  carries  slavery  wherever  its  flag  is  un 
furled."  But,  he  continued: 

A  mere  opposition-party  may  please  those  who  have  set 
their  eyes  upon  political  preferment;  it  does  not  satisfy 
me.  Such  a  party  loses  its  power  the  moment  it  attains  it. 
It  may  share  in  the  emoluments  of  office,  but  can  do  no 
good.  A  new  party  should  meet  all  the  important  political 
issues  clearly  and  distinctly,  without  mental  reservation. 
I  could  not  co-operate  with  any  party,  which,  while  assert 
ing  the  principle  that  all  soil  heretofore  free  should  re 
main  free  as  long  as  it  is  a  Territory,  would  not,  at  the 
same  time  affirmatively  maintain  that  the  Constitutional 
rights  of  the  Southern  States  should  never  be  interfered 
with;  that  all  American  citizens  without  distinction  of 
birth  and  religion  should  be  entitled  ' '  to  rule  America ;  ' ' 
that  the  present  naturalization  laws  should  not  be  mod 
ified  in  an  illiberal  spirit;  that  monopolies  in  every  shape 
and  form  should  be  abolished;  and  that  no  wasteful  ex- 


90 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

penditure,  under  whatever  specious  plea,   should  be   en 
couraged,  either  under  the  National  or  State  government.1 

This  letter,  coming  from  one  who  spoke  for  an  influential 
German  element  in  the  State,  was  widely  quoted  in  the  press, 
and  found  response.  Governor  Koerner  was  a  Democrat, 
whose  party  had  honored  him  in  many  ways,  and  a  close 
friend  of  Douglas;  but  he  opposed  the  Nebraska  Bill  on  the 
ground  that  it  "  was  a  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise, 
and  a  sectional  measure  devoted  to  the  interests  of  slavery." 
Although  he  saw  no  Constitutional  way  of  dealing  with 
slavery,  he  hated  it,  and  could  not  bring  himself  to  favor  its 
extension  into  Territory  heretofore  free.  Like  many  other 
Democrats,  he  hoped  that  the  State  and  National  conven 
tions  of  his  party  would  adopt  platforms  such  as  Anti-Ne 
braska  men  could  consistently  stand  upon.  It  was  a  vain 
hope;  for  the  State  convention,  held  at  Springfield,  on  May 
1st,  after  nominating  W.  A.  Richardson  for  Governor,  passed 
strong  Nebraska  resolutions,  and  closed  by  commending  Sen 
ator  Douglas  for  the  "  manly,  daring,  and  undeviating  fidel 
ity  with  which  he  has  always  maintained  State  sovereignty 
and  National  honor."  As  a  result,  such  men  as  Wentworth, 
Judd,  Palmer,  Baker,  Allen,  and  Koerner  left  the  party. 
Meanwhile,  letters  were  passing  to  and  fro  between  Herndon 
and  Parker,  and  we  have  this  glimpse  of  the  busy  life  of  a 
great  preacher,  whose  magnificent  and  ceaseless  evangel 
brought  him  to  an  early  grave : 

Boston,  Mass.,  April  17,  1856. 
Mr.  Herndon. 

My  Dear  Sir: — Your  letters  —  the  printed  matter  not 
less  than  the  written  —  rejoiced  me  very  much.  I  honor 
the  noble  spirit  which  breathes  in  them  all.  I  didn't  an 
swer  before  for  I  had  no  time,  and  a  hundred  letters  now 
lie  before  me  not  replied  to.  When  I  tell  you  that  I  have 
lectured  84  times  since  Nov.  1,  and  preached  at  home  ev 
ery  Sunday  but  2  when  I  was  in  Ohio,  and  never  an  old 
sermon,  and  have  had  six  meetings  a  month  at  my  own 
house,  and  have  written  more  than  2000  letters,  besides  a 
variety  of  other  work  belonging  to  a  minister  and  scholar, 


M emoirs  of  Gustave  Koerner,  Vol.  II,  pp.  3-5  (1909). 


HEBNDON  AND  PARKER 91 

you  may  judge  that  I  must  economize  minutes  and  often 
neglect  a  much  valued  friend.  So  please  excuse  my  de 
lay  in  acknowledging  your  brave  manly  words,  and  be 
lieve  me,  Faithfully  yours, 

THEO.  PARKER. 

Praise  from  such  a  source  was  praise  indeed  to  Herndon; 
and  he  hastened  to  reply,  sending  a  clipping  from  the  State 
Register  and  the  Journal  in  which  he  was  highly  spoken  of 
as  a  man,  in  view  of  the  mention  of  his  name  as  a  possible 
candidate  for  Governor.  He  refused,  however,  to  let  his 
name  be  so  used,  preferring  to  fight  as  a  private  in  the  ranks, 
and  not  wishing  to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  partner : 

Springfield,  111.,  April  28,  1856. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Friend :  —  I  received  yours  a  few  days  since.  I  had 
an  idea  that  you  were  immersed  in  your  pursuits.  I  had 
every  reason  to  know  this  —  to  know  it  had  been  —  was  so 
now.  I  therefore  excuse  you  with  pleasure.  However,  I 
did  not  write  to  you  —  except  collaterally  —  for  compli 
ments.  I  asked  a  question  in  my  last  two  letters.  The 
question  was  this:  What  time  is  the  best  for  a  man  — 
"  sucker  "  —to  come  East  and  see  the  world  of  matter 
and  man?  In  your  hurry  you  overlooked  the  substance 
and  took  up  the  incident.  This  I  forgive.  You  are  a  pretty 
good  judge  of  what,  as  a  general  rule,  the  young  want:  in 
my  case  a  little  mistaken  —  not  much. 

Let  us  be  candid.  Your  compliment  did  me  no  harm, 
but  great  good.  I  do  love  the  approbation  of  good  men  — 
none  others  are  sought  for  approbation.  I  hope  to  live  to 
see  the  day  when  I  can  make  slavery  feel  my  influence. 
That  shall  be  the  one  object  of  my  life.  It  and  myself ^ are 
enemies.  I  am  feeble :  it  is  strong,  yet  I  am  right  and  it  is 
wrong :  nature  —  eternal  truth  —  is  with  me :  error  is  with 
it.  Thus  we  stand.  I  am,  I  hope,  half  brave ;  it  is  a  coward. 
The  end  is  seen.  Do  not  understand  me  to  say  that  I  will 
live  to  see  slavery  abolished  and  that  I  will  do  it.  I  hope 
with  others,  to  sow  the  elements  whose  immanent  inherent 
power  will  do  it  after,  probably  long  after,  my  death. 

I  told  you  long  since  that  the  great  fault  of  politicians 
was  in  not  following  the  people,  or  in  not  speaking  for  prin 
ciple —  that  the  people  were  correct  —  their  ground  intu 
itions  were  almost  always  correct;  and  I  will  here  detail  a 
case.  I,  about  two  or  three  weeks  since,  made  a  speech  in 


92 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

Atlanta,  Logan  County  —  spoke  for  two  hours  and  a 
quarter  to  a  large  crowded  house  —  say  700  or  800  — 
filled  with  men,  women  —  God  bless  the  women  —  and 
young  men  and  pretty  girls;  and  if  I  ever  did  a  subject 
justice,  in  my  poor  way,  I  did  it  then  and  there.  I  took 
open,  broad,  deep  antagonistic  ground  against  slavery  ev 
erywhere  on  God's  habitable  globe.  I  really  expected  to 
be  hissed,  but  my  words  were  warm,  intense,  hot  from  an 
impassioned  nature.  The  crowd  saw  it  —  saw  my  nerv 
ous  excitement  —  my  thrill,  listened  to  me  and  really 
respected  me  more,  ten  thousand  times  more,  than  a  milk 
and  cider  affair.  I  never  saw  a  more  exultant  crowd  in 
my  life.  Well,  I  shall'  say  no  more  for  fear  you  do  not 
know  me.  Now  what  was  the  result  of  all  this.  In  a 
few  days  after  landing  at  home  I  found  a  complimentary, 
most  encouraging  letter,  asking  my  name  for  its  use  as 
a  candidate  for  Governor.  I  herewith  send  you  a  small 
slip  of  paper.  The  first  article  is  from  our  State  Reg 
ister,  the  paper  wrhich  is  my  life-long  enemy  —  political 
ly —  have  no  other  that  I  know  of;  the  second  piece  is 
from  the  Journal  —  the  paper  I  used  to  write  for  — 
been  kicked  off,  as  it  became  Know-Nothing.  I  have 
nothing  to  do  with  it  now,  nor  for  months.  There  you 
can  see  what  you  see.  I  do  not  want  office,  even  could  I 
get  it;  but  the  illustration  I  want  to  make  is,  that  poli 
ticians  want  boldness  —  want  manliness  —  want  principle. 
When  I  say  the  letter  followed  me,  I  mean  to  say  it  was 
published  a  few  days  after  my  return.  I  never  saw  the 
letter  till  published  —  will  never  consent  to  be  a  candi 
date  for  anything. 

If  professional  men,  all  men,  would  only  be  brave, 
awake  the  spontaneous  slumberings  of  human  power  — 
the  inward  divinity  —  and  follow  it,  rouse  and  educate 
the  grandest  intuitions  of  the  human  soul,  then  would  all 
tyrants  perish,  and  nothing  stand  between  man  and  his 
God,  but  the  limitations  immanent  in  the  human.  I  hope 
to  see  things  progress  along  that  path,  and  the  day  may 
come,  if  this  new  democracy  get  the  helm  of  affairs,  when 
that  will  be  the  object  for  which  legislators  and  others 
will  bend  all  their  forces.  Excuse  me.  I  am  on  the  eve 
of  going  off  on  business  —  to  talk  for  man.  Need  not  an 
swer.  Get  others  to  do  so.  Your  friend, 

W.  H.  HERNTDON. 

Some  time  before  the   Bloomington   meeting  Mr.    Herndon 
drew  up  and  circulated  a  paper,  calling  a  county  convention 


HERNDON  AND  PARKER 93 

in  Springfield  to  select  delegates  to  the  Republican  State 
convention.  Lincoln  was  away  at  the  time  and,  believing  that 
he  knew  his  partner,  Herndon  took  the  liberty  of  signing  his 
name  to  the  call,  which  he  published,  with  the  signatures  at 
tached,  in  the  Sangamon  Journal.  No  sooner  had  it  appeared 
than  John  T.  Stuart  —  who,  with  other  Springfield  friends, 
was  trying  to  save  Lincoln  from  the  radicals  —  rushed  into 
the  office  in  great  excitement,  and  asked  "  if  Lincoln  had 
signed  that  Abolitionist  call  in  the  Journal1!  "  Herndon 
calmly  told  him  what  he  had  done,  and  the  indignant  Stuart 
exclaimed,  "  Then  you  have  ruined  him!  "  In  relating  the 
incident  Mr.  Herndon  adds: 

But  I  was  by  no  means  alarmed  at  what  others  deemed  in 
considerate  and  hasty  action.  I  thought  I  understood  Lin 
coln  thoroughly,  but  in  order  to  vindicate  myself  if  as 
sailed  I  immediately  sat  down,  after  Stuart  had  rushed 
out  of  the  office,  and  wrote  Lincoln,  who  was  then  in  Taze- 
well  County  attending  court,  a  brief  account  of  what  I  had 
done  and  how  much  stir  it  was  creating  in  the  ranks  of  his 
conservative  friends.  If  he  approved  or  disapproved  my 
course  I  asked  him  to  write  or  telegraph  me  at  once.  In  a 
brief  time  came  his  answer:  "  All  right;  go  ahead.  Will 
meet  you  —  radicals  and  all."  Stuart  subsided,  and  the 
conservative  spirits  who  hovered  around  Springfield  no 
longer  held  control  of  the  political  fortunes  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.1 

II 

On  May  29th  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  —  or  "  Anti-Ne 
braska  men, ' '  as  they  yet  called  themselves  —  met  in  conven 
tion  at  Bloomington,  with  John  M.  Palmer  in  the  chair.  It 
was  a  notable  gathering,  and  the  unanimity  of  its  action  was 
all  the  more  astonishing  when  we  recall  the  spirit  of  the  hour 
and  the  motley  political  complexion  of  its  delegate  body. 
Democrats  like  Wentworth,  Judd,  Allen,  and  Koerner,  an 
gered  by  the  attitude  of  their  party,  were  ready  for  extreme 
measures;  several  counties  having  already  revolted  from  the 
Democracy  as  soon  as  the  Springfield  platform  had  been  made 


Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  II,  p.  52. 


94 LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 

known:  for  example  Peoria,  Madison,  and  especially  Cook, 
where  the  feeling  was  intense.  Of  course  the  Abolitionists 
were  there  in  full  force,  led  by  Lovejoy,  Codding,  Eastman, 
and  Herndon,  and  such  Whigs  as  Jesse  K.  Dubois  were  for 
going  home  at  once  when  they  saw  their  activity.  That  wiser 
counsels  prevailed  was  due  to  Archibald  Williams  and  Judge 
Dickey,  but  most  of  all  to  Lincoln,  who  actually  dominated 
the  convention,  dictated  its  platform,  and  directed  its  angry 
radicalism  into  a  moderate  and  conservative  course. 

Such  a  feat  was  all  the  more  remarkable  when  we  recall 
the  feverish  and  excited  mood  of  the  hour,  fanned  into  a  blaze 
by  recent  events.  Civil  war  was  raging  in  Kansas,  where  the 
city  of  Lawrence  had  just  been  attacked,  and  the  "  Free 
State  "  hotel  and  two  printing  offices  destroyed.  Governor 
Robinson  of  Kansas  had  been  arrested  without  legal  warrant 
in  Missouri,  his  house  sacked  and  burned,  and  himself  chained 
out  on  the  prairie,  in  default  of  a  jail ;  his  wife,  and  James  S. 
Emery,  a  leading  Free  State  man,  were  in  Bloomington. 
Governor  Reeder,  who  had  just  escaped  from  Kansas  in  dis 
guise,  was  also  there,  making  speeches  on  the  street,  and  stir 
ring  the  delegates  to  fever  heat.  Just  one  week  before  Charles 
Sumner  had  been  assaulted  in  the  Senate  Chamber  by  "  Bul 
ly  "  Brooks,  and  was  reported  to  be  dying;  while  Senator 
Trumbull  had  offered  a  resolution  in  the  Senate,  designed  to 
restore  peace  in  Kansas,  only  to  meet  derision.  Street  talk 
vied  with  convention  oratory  in  expressions  of  radicalism,  so 
much  so  that  while  0.  H.  Browning  was  making  a  speech  the 
crowd  kept  calling  for  Lovejoy  —  who,  like  Otis  of  colonial 
fame,  was  a  flame  of  fire  —  and  Browning  was  obliged  to 
yield  the  floor.  Herndon  put  forth  all  his  power  to  restrain 
the  radicals,  many  of  whom  were  still  suspicious  of  Lincoln, 
promising  them  that  his  partner  would  be  heard  at  the  right 
time.  Lincoln  himself,  who  did  not  ordinarily  betray  anxiety, 
was  in  a  state  of  suppressed  excitement  throughout  the  session, 
but  he  kept  his  mental  balance,  and  never  were  his  powers  of 
political  shrewdness  and  strategy  put  to  better  account. 

Amid  great  enthusiasm  William  H.  Bissell,  who  had  led  an 
Illinois  regiment  at  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  was  nominated 


HEBNDON  AND  PABKEB 95 

for  Governor,  and  Francis  Hoffman  for  Lieutenant  Governor, 
both  choices  being  unanimous.  The  remainder  of  the  State 
ticket  was  made  up  by  a  nominating  committee,  of  which  Lin 
coln  was  chairman,  and  the  report  was  adopted  without  altera 
tion.  A  State  Central  Committee  was  appointed  to  direct  the 
campaign.  The  resolutions  passed  were  much  the  same  as  those 
suggested  by  the  editorial  convention  at  Decatur,  conceived 
purposely  in  a  broad  and  liberal  spirit  so  as  to  secure  the 
support  of  all  classes  of  anti-slavery  men.  Only  one  thing  of 
importance  was  added,  namely,  that  the  admission  of  Kansas 
on  the  Constitution  adopted  by  the  people  should  take  place 
immediately.  After  a  hearty  endorsement  of  the  recent  work 
of  Trumbull  in  the  Senate,  further  action  was  taken  urging 
the  formation  of  Anti-Nebraska  clubs  all  over  the  State.  No 
sooner  had  the  business  been  disposed  of  than  a  chorus  of  voic 
es  began  to  call  for  ' '  Lincoln !  Lincoln !  ' '  and  there  followed  a 
speech,  vivid  in  its  passionate  intensity,  which  his  friends  said 
"  put  him  on  the  track  for  the  Presidency."  Of  that  speech 
Mr.  Herndon  said  in  a  lecture,  twelve  years  later : 

I  have  heard  or  read  all  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  great  speeches, 
and  I  give  it  as  my  opinion  that  the  Bloomington  speech 
was  the  grand  effort  of  his  life.  Heretofore  he  had  simply 
argued  the  slavery  question  on  grounds  of  policy  —  the 
statesman's  grounds.  .  .  .  Now  he  was  newly  baptized;  . 
.  .  the  smothered  flame  broke  out;  his  eyes  glowed  with 
inspiration ;  he  felt  justice ;  his  heart  was  alive,  .  .  .  and  he 
stood  before  the  throne  of  the  eternal  Right.  ...  It  was 
logic;  it  was  pathos;  it  was  enthusiasm;  it  was  justice, 
equity,  truth  and  right  set  ablaze  by  the  divine  fires  of  a 
soul  maddened  by  the  wrong;  it  was  hard,  heavy,  knotted, 
gnarled,  backed  with  wrath.  I  attempted  for  about  fifteen 
minutes  as  was  usual  with  me  then  to  take  notes,  but  at 
the  end  of  that  time  I  threw  pen  and  paper  away  and 
lived  only  in  the  inspiration  of  the  hour.  If  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  six  feet  and  four  inches  high  usually,  at  Bloomington 
that  day  he  was  seven  feet,  and  inspired  at  that. 

For  all  of  his  calm  sagacity,  Lincoln  was  in  fact  a  man  of 
intense  and  fiery  nature,  and  his  friends,  especially  Hern 
don,  had  often  noted  in  him  a  gleam  as  of  a  sleeping  light 
ning  which  he  dared  not  use.  At  last,  in  a  moment  of  high 


96  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON        

tension,  his  impenetrable  reserve  was  broken,  the  pent-up 
brooding  thought  of  years  rushed  into  flaming  speech,  and 
his  words  swayed  and  quivered  as  if  charged  with  electricity. 
No  report  of  that  outburst  remains,1  only  memories  and  im 
pressions  which  men  try  in  vain  to  record;  but  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  it  fused  the  mass  of  conflicting  elements 
into  a  fraternal  union,  and  welded  them  into  a  powerful  party. 
"  Never  was  an  audience  more  completely  electrified  by  hu 
man  eloquence,"  wrote  John  L.  Scripps  in  the  Chicago  Press. 
"  Again  and  again  during  its  delivery  they  sprang  to  their 
feet  and  upon  the  benches  and  testified  by  long-continued 
shouts  and  the  waving  of  hats  how  deeply  the  speaker  had 
wrought  upon  their  minds  and  hearts."  The  burden  of  his 
utterance  was,  "  Kansas  shall  be  free!  "  and  he  closed  with 
a  sentence,  almost  tragic  in  its  earnestness :  ' '  We  will  say  to 
the  Southern  dis-unionists,  we  won't  go  out  of  the  Union, 
and  you  sha'n'tl"  No  one,  not  even  the  Abolitionists,  any 
longer  had  any  doubt  as  to  where  Lincoln  stood,  and  all 
hastened  to  rally  about  him  as  the  leader  of  the  new  party 
in  Illinois. 

When  Herndon  went  back  to  Springfield  he  called  a 
"  mass  "  meeting  to  ratify  the  action  of  the  Bloomington 
Convention,  but  such  was  the  temper  of  the  town  that  only 

i  In  1896  W.  C.  Whitney  published  in  McClure  's  Magazine  what  pur 
ported  to  be  a  report  of  "Lincoln's  Lost  Speech,"  as  it  is  called,  -which 
he  claimed  to  have  reproduced  from  notes  taken  at  the  time  of  its  de 
livery  —  forty  years  before.  Of  course,  after  so  long  a  time  it  was  im 
possible  to  reproduce  the  speech,  however  vivid  its  impression,  from  long 
hand  notes,  and  many  of  the  friends  of  Lincoln  who  heard  the  speech 
were  annoyed,  if  not  indignant.  Among  these  were  J.  M.  Scott,  John 
M.  Palmer,  T.  J.  Henderson,  I.  L.  Morrison,  George  Schneider,  B.  F. 
Shaw,  J.  M.  Euggles,  O.  T.  Reeves,  and  others,  all  of  whom  repudiated 
the  Whitney  version,  which  professed  to  give  even  the  interruptions  and 
punctuations  of  "Applause."  We  need  not  charge  Mr.  Whitney  with 
forgery,  as  some  have  done,  but  Mr.  I.  N.  Phillips  has  shown,  from  inter 
nal  and  external  evidence,  the  absurdity  of  calling  that  reproduction  a 
"report."  The  Whitney  "report"  bears  almost  none  of  the  marks 
of  Lincoln's  peculiar  and  characteristic  style,  and  should  never  have 
been  put  forth  as  anything  more  than  an  impression  or  a  memory.  — 
Abraham  Lincoln,  by  I.  N.  Phillips,  Appendix  (1901). 


HERNDON  AND  PARKER 97 

one  man  besides  himself  and  Lincoln  was  present.  Lincoln 
spoke,  nevertheless  —  in  response  to  ' '  deafening  calls, ' '  as 
Herndon  said  —  dryly  remarking  that  the  meeting  was  larger 
than  he  had  thought  it  would  be,  for,  while  he  had  been  sure 
that  he  and  Herndon  would  attend,  he  had  not  been  sure  that 
any  one  else  would.  And  then  he  concluded:  "  While  all 
seems  dead,  the  age  itself  is  not.  It  liveth  as  surely  as  our 
Maker  liveth.  Under  all  this  seeming  want  of  life  and  mo 
tion,  the  world  does  move,  nevertheless.  Be  hopeful,  and 
now  let  us  adjourn  and  appeal  to  the  people."  Still,  Lincoln 
was  not  without  honor  save  in  his  own  city;  for,  three  weeks 
later,  in  the  Republican  National  Convention  at  Philadelphia, 
which  nominated  John  C.  Fremont  for  the  Presidency,  he  re 
ceived  110  votes  for  Vice-President.  When  the  news  reached 
him  he  said  that  "  It  must  have  been  the  great  Lincoln  of 
Massachusetts  "  they  were  voting  for,1  but  so  spontaneous  a 
tribute,  although  it  did  not  bring  him  the  nomination,  showed 
that  he  was  not  an  unknown  man.  So  did  the  letters  which 
poured  into  his  office,  asking  him  to  speak  not  only  in  his  own 
State,  but  in  Indiana,  Wisconsin,  and  Iowa. 

Both  partners  were  in  request  as  speakers,  Lincoln  making 
more  than  fifty  speeches  during  the  campaign,  confining  him 
self  to  his  own  State.  He  bent  his  energies  to  the  task  of  re 
ducing  the  strength  of  the  Know-Nothings  —  who  had  organ 
ized  as  a  secret  order,  with  signs,  pass-words,  and  high-sound 
ing  titles,  and  nominated  Millard  Fillmore  —  and  so  effective 
was  his  work  that  had  it  been  possible  to  carry  the  process  a 
little  farther,  he  would  have  saved  Illinois.  Notable  also  was 
his  influence  with  the  Germans,  who  had  really  nominated 
Fremont,2  and  whom  he  was  eager  to  win  to  the  new  party; 

1  Lincoln 's  Vote  for  Vice-President,  by  Jesse  W.  Weik,  Century  Maga 
zine,  June,  1908.     This  fact  should  be  kept  in  mind  by  those  who  write 
as   though   Lincoln   was   an    obscure,    unknown   man    before   his    debate 
with  Douglas,  not  less  than  by  those  who  seem  to  think  that  his  nomination 
for  President  in  1860  was  a  happy  accident  in  politics.     Surely  Dr.  Von 
Hoist  has  destroyed  these  two  errors.  —  Constitutional  History,  Vols.  VII, 
VIII   (1892).     It  does  not  add  to  the  greatness  of  Lincoln  to  make  his 
career  appear  magical;  it  detracts  from  it. 

2  Memoirs  of  Gustave  Koerner,  Vol.  II,  pp.  16,  33  (1909). 


98  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

nor  did  they  admire  him  less  when  he  exclaimed,  "  God  bless 
the  Dutch!  "  knowing  him  to  be  sincere.  In  a  significant 
speech  at  Galena,  while  refuting  the  charge  that  the  Republi 
cans  were  working  for  a  disruption  of  the  Union,  he  let  fall  a 
few  remarks  about  the  binding  force  of  the  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  to  which  he  pinned  his  faith.  It  so  happened 
that  the  Dred  Scott  case  was  then  pending  before  that  tri 
bunal,1  and  if  Lincoln  had  forgotten  his  words  Douglas  was 
ready  to  refresh  his  memory  one  year  later.  It  was  an  ex 
citing  contest  which,  despite  the  defeat  of  Fremont,  brought 
victory  to  the  new  party  in  Illinois,  and  added  laurels  to  Lin 
coln  as  its  leader. 

During  the  campaign  Theodore  Parker  visited  Springfield 
and  lectured,  and  it  was  characteristic  of  the  town  to  give  him 
a  small  hearing.  Lincoln  was  away,  but  Herndon  ran  in  from 
a  speaking  tour,  dusty  and  tired,  only  to  be  chagrined  at  the 
small  audience,  and  to  be  yet  further  humiliated  by  some  mis 
understanding  as  to  the  price  of  the  lecture,  which  had  been 
arranged  by  Herbert  Post.  Moreover  the  lecture  had  not  been 
properly  advertised,  but  advertising  would  have  done  little 
good  in  Springfield  where  Parker  was  held  to  be  a  dangerous 
man  both  politically  and  theologically.  Against  such  an  en 
vironment  Herndon  had  to  struggle,  and  it  weighed  upon  him 
at  times  like  the  millions  of  tons  of  water  on  a  diver  in  the  sea 


i  This  famous  case,  from  whose  final  decision  the  nation  appealed  to 
the  God  of  Battle,  was  begun  in  1847.  Dred  Scott  was  a  negro  slave 
of  Dr.  Emerson,  a  surgeon  in  the  United  States  Army,  then  stationed  in 
Missouri.  Dr.  Emerson  took  Scott  with  him  when,  in  1843,  he  moved  to 
Illinois,  and  subsequently  to  Fort  Snelling,  Wisconsin.  That  was  free 
territory  under  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which,  if  valid,  made  Scott 
free.  When  Dr.  Emerson  returned  to  Missouri  he  brought  Scott,  his  wife 
and  child,  with  him,  and  the  case  came  to  the  attention  of  Roswell 
Field  —  father  of  Eugene  Field,  the  poet  —  who  began  proceedings  in  St. 
Louis.  He  was  defeated,  but  renewed  the  fight  in  1854,  and  from  an  ad 
verse  decision  of  the  lower  court  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  His  connection  with  the  case  ceased  with  the  preparation 
of  the  appeal,  which  he  sent  to  Montgomery  Blair,  with  whom  was  asso 
ciated  for  Scott  George  E.  Curtis.  —  Eugene  Field,  by  Slason  Thompson, 
Vol.  I,  Chap.  Ill  (1901). 


HERNDON  AND  PARKER  99 

who  is  climbing  to  the  surface,  which  he  despairs  of  reaching 
with  brain  and  body  intact.  Hence  a  letter  of  abject  regret : 

Springfield,  111.,  Nov.  12,  1856. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  Enclosed  is  a  letter  from  Mr.  Post.  He 
made  the  arrangements  with  Mr.  Wells  in  reference  to 
your  lecture.  You  will  see  what  he  says;  and  then  you 
can  throw  the  blame  where  it  justly  belongs.  Had  you 
spoken  to  me  the  night  I  left  you  at  the  tavern  and  told 
me  how  this  matter  stood,  I  should  have  felt  much  better 
than  I  did  after  you  went  away.  I  regret  all  this  proceed 
ing  very  much;  yet  I  do  not  know  where  I  am  to  blame. 
I  hope  you  will  have  the  goodness  to  separate  me  from  the 
"  mass."  You  have  been  shamefully  wronged  by  some 
one.  By  the  by,  did  not  H.  Ward  Beecher  have  a  diffi 
culty  with  Mr.  Wells?  What  say  you?  Will  you  place 
me  right  in  your  estimation,  if  you  can? 

When  here  you  told  me  you  intended  so  soon  as  you 
could  to  give  four  lectures  —  one  on  Washington,  one  on 
Jefferson,  one  on  Franklin,  and  one  on  Adams.  I  hope 
you  may  do  this,  and  do  it  as  speedily  as  your  good  judg 
ment  dictates;  they  are  needed.  Can  they  not  be  prefaced 
with  another  —  say  on  "  The  History  of  Liberty,"  run 
ning  from  Greece,  Rome,  Germany,  France,  and  England 
down  to  us? 

We  are  defeated  for  President  in  Illinois;  but  have 
elected  our  whole  State  ticket  —  a  pure  Fremont-Repub 
lican  ticket  —  for  officers  in  this  State.  This  is  glory 
enough  for  Illinois ;  it  is  a  reproof,  a  burning  blasting  cen 
sure  to  Douglas  and  Richardson ;  they  are  politically  dead ; 
compensation  will  follow;  hell  —  let  this  word  stand  — 
will  get  two  sweet  morsels  when  they  go,  if  they  do  go. 
We  Fremont  men  feel  as  if  victory  had  perched  on  our 
banner.  Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Such  a  triumph,  won  by  a  fusion  of  heterogeneous  elements, 
was  just  cause  for  pride,  as  it  was  the  first  time  in  the  his 
tory  of  Illinois  that  the  Democrats  had  failed  of  a  majority 
in  the  State  elections.  How  nobly  the  various  elements  had 
worked  together  —  the  Abolitionists  led  by  Lovejoy,  the 
Whigs  by  Lincoln  and  Yates,  the  Democrats  by  Wentworth, 
Palmer,  and  Koerner;  and  each  leader  realized  that  the  vie- 


100 LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 

tory  was  due  to  the  efforts  of  each  faction  and  to  the  unity 
of  all.  Had  the  Know-Nothings  joined  forces  with  the  new 
party  Buchanan  would  have  been  defeated,  for  they  held  the 
balance  of  power.  But  Fremont  was  not  the  man  for  Pres 
ident  in  such  a  crisis ;  moreover  the  Republican  party  was  too 
young  to  take  control  of  affairs,  and  had  yet  to  find  its  true 
leader.  Parker  interpreted  the  meaning  of  the  election  as 
follows : 

Boston,  Mass.,  Nov.  17,  1856. 
My  dear  Mr.  Herndon: 

Don't  think  I  had  any  hard  thoughts  about  the  lecture 
at  Springfield.  I  was  more  concerned  at  the  smallness  of 
the  audience  than  aught  besides.  I  felt  a  little  delicacy 
about  naming  the  matter  to  you  and  should  not  have 
thought  any  more  of  it  had  not  you  written  for  an  ex 
planation  of  my  looks.  There  was  a  misunderstanding 
between  Mr.  Beecher  and  Mr.  "Wells ;  but  I  shall  have  none 
with  anybody. 

While  I  write  the  "  Democrats  "  who  think  the  self- 
evident  truth  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  "  is  self- 
evident  lie  "  are  firing  their  cannons  in  the  Common  for 
the  victory  of  Slavery  over  Freedom.  Just  eighty  years 
ago  today  the  Tories  in  New  York  celebrated  the  greatest 
victory  which  the  British  gained  over  the  Americans  in 
the  Revolution.  For  November  16,  1776,  General  Greene 
surrendered  Fort  "Washington  to  the  British  with  2818 
men,  provisions,  cannons,  etc.  It  was  the  greatest  defeat 
in  the  whole  war!  How  the  Tories  rejoiced! 

Well,  the  cause  of  American  democracy  was  in  less  ter 
rible  peril  November  17,  1776,  than  November  17,  1856; 
for  then  our  chief  foes  were  abroad,  the  pestilent  council 
was  3000  miles  off ;  while  now  our  enemy  is  in  the  midst  of 
us  and  we  think  him  a  friend,  and  the  vicious  council  is 
chosen  by  the  people  whom  it  prepares  to  ruin. 

Election  morning  there  were  three  alternatives  before 
the  people :  —  1.  Freedom  may  annihilate  the  institutions 
of  slavery  by  peaceful  legislation.  II.  Slavery  may  an 
nihilate  the  institutions  of  freedom  by  peaceful  legislation. 
III.  The  hostile  parties  may  draw  their  swords  and  fight 
the  matter  out.1 


i  Parker  had  always  a  fancy  for  prediction,  as  may  be  seen  in  a  letter 
to  Dr.  Fuster,  a  Viennese  professor,  June  17,  1856:  "Fremont  will  be 
nominated  tomorrow.  I  think  he  will  be  elected;  then  the  trouble  is 


THEODORE  PARKER 

From  a  portrait  made  in  Switzerland  by  Desor  soon  after 

the  death  of  Parker,  and  never  before 

reproduced  in  America 


HEBNDON  AND  PARKER      :-\  :.    lQJ 

Election  night,  by  the  action  of  the  people  the  first  al 
ternative  was  withdrawn.  Now  we  are  to  make  our  choice 
between  II  and  III  —  between  the  ruin  of  Democratic  in 
stitutions  and  Civil  War.  Do  you  doubt  which  we  shall 
choose?  God  bless  your  noble  efforts. 

Yours  faithfully,          THEO.  PARKER. 

This  letter,  with  its  ominous  forebodings,  impressed  Herndon 
deeply,  and  we  shall  find  him  recurring  to  it,  as  to  a  prophetic 
scroll,  the  following  year.  His  reply  is  interesting,  as  a 
glimpse  of  his  energy,  his  enthusiasm,  and  his  methods  of 
work  in  a  cause  which  possessed  him  like  a  passion.  His  let 
ter  is  frank,  but  in  no  sense  boastful  or  exaggerative: 

Springfield,  111.,  Dec.  27,  1856. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  received  your  letter  in  answer  to  mine, 
directed  to  you  at  Boston,  and  for  which  I  am  under  many 
obligations  to  you.  In  yours  you  approve  my  conduct  in 
reference  to  the  cause  of  Freedom  in  Illinois,  during  the 
late  Presidential  race.  I  tried  to  do  my  duty  and  spoke 
always  from  a  high  and  elevated  standpoint.  If  I  did  not 
persuade  everybody,  I  at  least  taught  some  that  there  was 
such  a  thing  as  Justice;  that  there  was  an  Ideal  always 
floating  close  to  man  but  ever  moving  towards  God.  I 
urged  the  young  men  to  struggle  for  that  point  where  the 
Ideal  and  Actual  are  wed. 

When  I  wrote  to  you  some  years  since  you  must  have 
thought  I  was  crazy  in  stating  to  you  that  I  intended  to 
sow  seeds  which  should  never  die.  Now  let  me  state  to 
you  what  I  did  —  what  I  acted,  and  then  you  may  pro 
nounce  "  guilty  "  or  "  not  guilty  "  of  rashness.  Firstly: 
I  collected  some  two  or  three  hundred  dollars  and  sent  this 
to  the  Republican  association  and  other  places;  and  pur 
chased  documents,  speeches,  books,  etc.,  and  scattered  them 
among  our  people.  I  did  this  alone.  Secondly:  I  com 
menced  early  in  1854  in  our  county  and  spoke  on  every 
stump  and  in  every  church  and  schoolhouse  therein,  and 
thus  carried  our  county  by  a  larger  majority  than  ever 
before. 


settled  peacefully.  If  he  is  not  elected,  then  the  Union  goes  to  pieces 
in  five  years  —  not  without  blood.  It  is  strange  that  men  are  not  yet 
wise  enough  to  settle  difficulties  without  fighting." — Recollections  of 
Seventy  Tears,  by  F.v  B.  Sanborn,  Vol.  II,  p.  563  (1909). 


102  LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON         

Thirdly:  I  commenced  early  in  March,  1856,  and  spoke 
upon  an  average  of  twice  a  week  in  almost  every  part  of 
our  wide-extended  State  —  spoke  to  tens  and  to  ten  thou 
sand  at  once.  I  always  spoke  feelingly,  earnestly,  with 
force,  though  I  do  say  it  myself.  Fourthly:  I  turned  my 
office  into  a  kind  of  war-office  —  took  the  young,  active,  vig 
orous,  honest  men  there  and  talked  to  them  —  got  them  to 
take  an  interest  that  they  would  not  otherwise  have  done 
in  favor  of  human  liberty  —  human  rights.  Fifthly :  You 
know  my  position  here,  1  suppose,  as  a  lawyer  and  a  man; 
and  if  I  had  any  earthly  influence,  let  me  assure  you  that 
I  moved  this  class  as  intensely  as  I  could.  I  did  some  good 
even  in  this  department  —  the  Law  —  of  frigid  conserv 
atism.  Sixthly:  When  I  met  a  young  man  of  my  profes 
sion  who  had  high  hopes  —  who  was  pure  —  who  had  an 
ideal  of  the  perfection  of  purposes  —  who  was  really  re 
ligious  in  God's  view  of  actual  religion,  I  gave  him  a  list 
of  books  and  made  him  buy  them.  You  know  probably 
what  I  recommended  and  whose  books. 

Mr.  Parker,  these  are  facts  and  not  imaginations  which 
were  dreamed.  These  I  state  to  you  as  facts,  by  which  I 
am  willing  to  be  judged.  If  these  things,  with  others  which 
I  cannot  now  express,  do  not  amount  to  sowing  seeds  that 
will  never  die,  then  the  ability  simply  fell  short  of  the 
hopes. 

In  your  last  letter  to  me  you  stated  you  regretted  your 
lecture  here  more  on  account  of  the  absence  of  the  audi 
ence  than  most  anything  else.  This  I  regretted  as  much 
as  you  did ;  yet  let  me  state  to  you  that  I  think  it  sprung 
from  no  ill  will  to  you;  but  more  from  a  complication  of 
facts.  I  hoped  to  have  a  long  chat  with  you  on  the  even 
ing  you  were  here,  and  to  state  to  you  things  as  they  exist 
in  the  West,  and  which  you  will  scarcely  get  unvarnished 
for  a  long  time  to  come ;  but  an  unexpected  misunderstand 
ing  came  over  us,  and  cut  me  through ;  thus  depriving  me 
of  the  pleasure.  ...  I  was  at  the  time  worn  down,  having 
spoken  I  think  nearly  a  hundred  times  —  was  not  well- 
had  neglected  my  person,  my  clothes,  my  home,  office,  all, 
all,  and  suppose  I  did  not  cut  a  very  handsome  figure  be 
fore  you.  Friend,  pardon  all  —  forget  and  forgive  —  re 
member  only  the  good ;  the  motives  and  intentions. 

Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Give  my  best  respects  to  your  friend  Wendell  Phillips 
and  tell  him  to  publish  his  speeches  by  all  means. 


HERNDQN  AND  PABKEB 103 

III 

With  the  election  of  Buchanan  —  than  whom  slavery  never 
had  a  better  friend  —  Lincoln  fell  into  one  of  those  strange 
lapses  which  are  among  the  least  comprehensible  of  the  mys 
teries  of  his  life.  During  the  next  two  years  he  did  little  to 
suggest  the  brilliant  work  of  1854  and  1856,  or  the  splendid 
service  he  was  to  render  in  the  near  future.  His  speeches  at 
the  banquet  in  Chicago  and  at  Springfield  in  June,  1857,  show 
little  advance  in  thought,  and  none  in  oratorical  manner.  In 
fact,  there  is  in  both  a  marked  falling  away  from  the  dignity 
and  power  of  his  speeches  in  1854.  But  the  lapse,  if  we  may 
so  speak  of  it,  was  only  temporary,  and  was  due  no  doubt  to 
his  disgust,  if  not  discouragement,  at  the  triumph  of  wrong. 
While  the  campaign  was  going  on  business  had  piled  up  in 
the  office,  but  Herndon  found  time  to  write  to  his  friend 
Parker,  congratulating  him  upon  the  re-election  of  Charles 
Sumner.  Politically,  theologically,  and  otherwise  the  Western 
lawyer  and  the  Boston  reformer  had  much  in  common,  in 
cluding  an  ardent  love  of  nature  in  all  her  aspects ;  as  witness 
the  following  letter,  written  by  a  true  child  of  the  open  air, 
reporting  a  tramp  in  the  winter  woods : 

Springfield,  111.,  Jan.  24,  1857. 
Friend  Parker, 

Dear  Sir :  —  We  have  just  heard  that  Hon.  Charles 
Sumner  has  been  re-elected  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
by  the  Legislature  of  Old  Massachusetts.  God  bless  her! 
Let  me  congratulate  you,  and  humanity  through  you,  up 
on  this  great  event  in  the  history  of  the  moves  of  Liberty. 
Humanity  can  be  reached  only  through  the  individual  — 
I  use  you.  May  Sumner  live  —  may  you  live,  he  sena- 
torially,  and  you  ministerially  —  to  strike  the  last  link, 
and  shiver  it  too,  from  the  last  slave  that  breathes  the  free 
air  of  heaven.  Your  letter  to  me,  some  time  since,  and 
your  letter  to  the  Anti-Slavery  Convention,  I  am  reflect 
ing  on.  Enough  of  politics  now. 

I  am  this  moment  in  my  office  —  bodily  so;  yet  I  am 
in  the  woods.  I  got  tired  of  town  and  books;  and  so  I 
thought  I  would  take  a  ramble  in  the  forests  with  my  dog 
and  gun,  and  see  what  I  could  see.  The  day  is  very  cold 


104 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

—  so  cold  that  the  frozen  particles  of  water  glitter  like 
millions  of  small  fire  globes,  blazing  in  the  air.  The  keen 
wind  whips  around  the  sharp  corners  of  the  hills;  cold, 
yet  I  press  on  to  the  place  of  game  and  sport.  I  am  now 
in  the  deep  woods;  and  stealthily  creep  along  the  under 
brush,  now  moving  this  bush,  now  that  limb,  that  impedes 
my  way.  Man  is  the  lord  of  all  he  surveys!  He  is  king! 
And  yet  he  bows  humbly  to  the  outstretched  arm  of  briar 
and  bush.  Great  lord  —  he !  After  traveling  thus  for  two 
or  three  miles  over  dense  woods  and  underbrush,  I  became 
somewhat  fatigued  and  sat  down  on  a  log,  and  commenced 
looking  at  nature.  The  trees  pop  and  crack  all  around  me ; 
and  the  few  little  birds  that  are  about  lie  low  —  keep  close 
to  the  ground.  The  forest  trees  stand  out  boldly  against 
the  infinite  blue  —  look  shriveled  in  their  ' '  cold  and  naked 
anatomy  ' :  -  this  from  you,  I  think.  Before  me  stands  a 
large  black  oak,  probably  a  thousand  years  old,  and  up  and 
down  its  trunk  runs,  skips  and  hops,  a  little  torn-tit,  a 
small  speckled  bird,  about  as  big  as  a  canary,  now  running 
vertically  up  and  down,  now  laterally  around,  peeping 
into  the  thick  bark  —  that  is,  into  the  crevices  —  to  see  if 
he  cannot  find  the  larvae  of  bug  or  insect,  or  a  stray  berry 
which  some  unfortunate  bird  has  forgotten,  or  has  not  yet 
needed.  This  little  bird  is  a  great  rogue.  He  has  two 
equally  long  claws  before  and  behind;  and  so  is  adapted 
to  go  up  or  down  or  around ;  he  is  a  cute  little  rogue.  His 
voice  seems  to  say  chick-quit,  chick-quit.  He  found  nothing 
and  has  flown. 

I  see  some  distance  from  me  a  tolerably  large  black-jack 
hickory  bush;  it  has  very  large  hiberneals  for  the  leaf 
germ,  and  I  want  to  see  into  them.  In  going  to  the  tree 
through  the  bushes  and  snow  I  looked  a  little  ahead  of  me, 
and  in  a  small  bunch  of  dry  grass  sits  a  rabbit,  snug  and 
warm.  Timid  little  fellow  —  free  from  harm  so  far  as 
my  gun  is  concerned.  The  dog  is  behind  me  and  yet  I 
can  see  —  he  has  thrown  his  head  up  to  the  wind  —  that 
he  has  caught  the  scent,  and  we  shall  have  a  chase.  Sure 
enough,  the  rabbit  bounds  and  the  dog  yelps  hot  after  him ; 
they  range  down  a  small  slope  and  up  a  little  elevation  — 
down  another  hollow  and  are  out  of  sight.  After  a  few 
seconds  I  hear  the  dog  bark,  and  when  I  get  there  I  find 
that  the  rabbit  has  "  holed,"  and  the  dog  is  scratching  at 
the  roots  of  the  tree.  I  let  it  alone  and  called  my  dog  off, 
and  went  along  up  the  creek,  forgetting  my  hibernacle 
philosophy. 

I  went  to  the  creek  and  cut  a  small  hole  in  the  ice  —  in 


HEBNDQN  AND  PARKER 105 

a  ripple  —  and  stooped  to  drink ;  and  about  this  time  some 
little  fishes  caught  the  thrill  of  an  air  hole  and  came  to  it; 
and  there  they  and  I  had  fun.  They  would  struggle  with 
each  other  as  to  their  right  of  air,  but  as  with  men  the 
"  biggest  "  and  cruelest  took  the  day:  here  goes  a  little 
chub;  he  has  got  mad  and  sulky,  and  so  he  goes  off  and 
pouts  and  threats.  They  all  move,  not  as  in  summer,  quick 
and  flashing,  but  dull,  heavy  and  not  beautiful,  as  in  spring. 
As  many  as  can  hover  around  the  hole,  but  soon  winter  will 
seal  the  window  with  bar  of  spicula  and  shutter  of  ice. 

I  am  now  on  the  ice  going  down  the  creek  to  Sangamon 
River,  about  five  miles  from  town,  where  I  expect  to  find 
game.  On  my  way  down,  on  the  ice,  I  see  little  tracks  of 
wood-mice,  crossing  the  creek  on  the  snow.  The  little  fel 
lows'  legs  are  too  short  to  reach  the  ice  through  the  snow, 
and  so  they  make  a  track  —  a  path,  rather,  with  their  whole 
body,  still  leaving  a  small  impression  with  the  feet.  Here 
stands  a  large  snag  in  the  ice,  leaning  at  about  an  angle  of 
forty-five  degrees  east,  and  the  snow  for  some  yards  has 
been  blown  from  the  ice,  leaving  a  clean  path  west  of  the 
snag  —  the  wind  having  blown  from  the  east.  I  can  see  the 
diverging  paths  of  the  wind,  widening  every  inch  from  the 
trunk  of  the  tree,  until  wholly  lost  by  cross  currents  and 
its  own  failing  power.  This  is  a  curious  study ;  the  laws  of 
the  winds,  if  they  have  any  laws,  can  here  be  seen  in  some 
of  their  manifestations.  Is  there  any  law  in  anything,  in 
matter  and  spirit?  Is  there  any  law  in  material  nature? 
Is  not  the  idea  of  law  an  abstraction  ? 

I  pick  up  my  gun  from  the  ice  and  pad  along  to  the 
field  of  sport.  Down  the  creek  an  animal  is  crossing  and  I 
will  "  put  him  through,"  if  he  is  of  the  eatable  species; 
but  if  not,  it  and  my  dog  for  it.  I  walk,  on  and  the  thing 
proves  to  be  an  old  he  ground-hog  —  rather  a  hard  customer 
for  a  common  dog.  He  is  smart :  he  "  holes  "  or  I  should 
have  assisted  my  dog  —  if  necessary.  These  ground-hogs 
are  a  thick,  heavy-made  animal,  weighing  about  fifteen 
pounds  —  long,  not  active ;  powerful,  tough ;  broad  teeth 
before,  like  a  beaver,  for  cutting  roots  in  burrowing;  they 
are  long-lived,  useless  creatures :  looking  out  of  man 's  eyes, 
when  I  say  this.  My  dog  whines  at  the  hole  in  the  bank, 
and  looks  up  with  his  large  gray  intelligent  eyes  and  asks 
me  to  assist  him.  But  I  can  do  him  no  good  —  take  a  day 
to  do  it.  So  we  go  till  we  can  just  see  the  banks  of  the 
Sangamon. 

Across  the  river  I  expect  to  find  some  good  wild  game, 
up  on  the  bluffs  and  amidst  the  dense  woods,  probably 


106 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

some  wild  turkeys.    I  am  now  traveling  slowly,  attentively 

—  my  eyes  sweeping  over  this  hill  and  up  and  down  that 
hollow.     I  have  now  got  on  some  fresh  turkey  tracks,  and 
I  will  follow  on  and  go  with  them.    I  look  at  the  tracks  and 
the  long  toes  go  due  north,  ranging  for  some  fields ;  and  so 
I  know  about  where  they  are.       I  walk  slowly,  my  eyes 
sweeping  the  short  space  before  me,  so  as  to  be  as  quick 
as  the  exigencies  demand.     It  is  not  long  before  I  hear  a 
quick,  sharp  noise,  going  quit,  quit.     These  are  turkeys. 
The  dog  has  flushed  them;  they  take  to  flight,  some  light 
ing  on  the  large  tall  trees  not  far  from  me.    Yonder  is  one 
and  I  will  go  for  it.    So  I  pull  off  my  gloves,  lay  my  rifle 
up  against  a  tree  and  take  sight,  touch  the  trigger  and  off 
it  goes.    The  turkey  bounds  up,  quivers  on  the  wing,  and 

—  falls.    I  pick  it  up  and  start  home.    Its  blue,  cold  neck 
is  long  —  toes  on  the  ground  and  its  bill  coming  to  the  vest. 

I  am  now  at  the  river  standing  on  a  high  bold  knob 
where  I  stood  twenty  years  ago ;  but  0,  what  a  change ! 
Instead  of  wildness  and  wolves  I  see  farm  on  farm  till  they 
melt  on  the  horizon,  and  cattle  and  sheep  scattered  along 
the  plain.  The  deep,  owl-forest  has  been  cut  away,  and 
the  wood-man's  axe  kisses  the  sun  in  its  whirl.  0,  what  a 
change  —  all  for  the  better.  Go  on  and  you  may  see  what 
another  has  said,  a  day  when  the  state  shall  be  without  a 
king,  society  without  aristocracy,  a  church  without  a  priest, 
and  a  family  without  a  slave.  Yours  truly, 

W.  H.  HERNDON. 

And  in  other  fields  Mr.  Herndon  was  also  a  hunter,  particu 
larly  in  philosophy,  whither  his  speculative  tendency  led  him 
in  quest  of  game.  In  his  library,  which  was  unusually  large 
for  that  time  and  place,  might  be  found  the  works  of  Kant, 
Hegel,  Comte,  Schlegel,  and  others,  alongside  the  writings 
of  many  of  the  disobedient  essayists  —  books  rarely  seen  on 
the  shelves  of  a  prairie  attorney.  This  penchant  for  specu 
lative  inquiries  was  another  tie  between  him  and  Parker,  who 
dealt  with  such  themes  in  large  and  bold  strokes,  and  whose 
intuitional  philosophy  appealed  to  his  vivid  and  intuitive  in 
tellect.  Having  read  the  sermons  of  Parker  on  "  Theism, 
Atheism,  and  the  Popular  Theology,"  he  went  off  on  another 
tramp,  and  if  he  brought  back  little  game  it  was  because  in 
this  forest  the  underbrush  is  dense  and  the  turkeys  fly  very 
high: 


HEENDON  AND  PAKKER  107 


Springfield,  111.,  Feb.,  1857. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Friend :  —  I  am  troublesome  I  know,  yet  I  am  bothered, 
and  want  to  free  myself,  if  I  can.  I  have  an  idea  that  there 
are  no  laws  in  nature  as  usually  understood.  I  infer  this 
from  your  three  most  excellent  sermons  on  "  Providence." 
My  idea  is,  that  this  thing  of  Law  is  a  fiction,  is  a  general 
ization,  not  an  abstraction  in  the  school-man's  sense,  to 
assist  human  thought.  The  idea  of  Law  is  the  economy 
of  the  human  mind.  I  agree  that  there  are  order  and 
method  pervading  nature,  but  do  order  and  method  make 
Law?  If  so,  then  eagles  which  come  from  the  mint  are 
produced,  created,  by  law;  for  each  dollar  comes  in  due 
succession:  they  are  identical,  showing  method.  The  truth 
is  that  these  dollars  come  by  force,  and  not  Law ;  and  you 
may  pile  order  on  order,  and  succession  on  succession,  and 
method  on  method  throughout  the  eternities,  still  you  have 
not  a  Law:  you  have  repetitions;  but  repetitions  do  not 
make  Laws.  I  can  repeat  a  complex  fact  always,  still 
repetition  does  not  constitute  Law.  Laws  are  inferences 
from  known  facts. 

A  rock  falls  to  the  ground,  two,  ten  thousand  fall,  and 
we  yelp  gravitation  —  Law.  What  do  I  understand  ? 
Nothing.  The  wise  man  says,  "  Attraction  is  gravitation, 
and  gravitation  is  attraction."  Still  what  do  I  under 
stand  ?  Nothing.  I  see  an  eternal  fact  —  not  Law.  Whilst 
the  philosopher's  notions  of  Law  are  evanescent,  these  facts 
are  permanent.  Do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  see  all  these 
orders,  successions,  methods,  harmonies,  and  beauties,  and 
the  great  good  God  governing  all,  still  my  mind  cannot  see 
Law.  I  see  a  "  special  Providence  "  in  the  creation  Might, 
the  All-All,  forever  present  and  eternally  creative,  creating 
world  and  worm,  zoophyte  and  man,  fire  and  frost;  but  I 
cannot  comprehend  Law.  If  you  say  it  is  simply  a  method- 
path,  whereby  or  whereon  nature  moves,  then  I  say  yea; 
but  you  force  me  to  bow  down  and  say  Law  when  I  cannot 
do  so,  in  my  heart.  I  am  willing  that  the  word  ' '  law  ' '  may 
be  used,  if  it  be  understood  thereby  that  all  that  is  meant 
is  method,  order,  and  succession,  or  paths;  but  unwilling 
when  you  say  Law  and  mean  thereby  an  eternal  rule  in  na 
ture,  objective  to  the  mind.  Law  is  a  generalization  of  and 
in  the  mind,  is  a  subjective  concept  in  the  Reason.  Place 
it  there  and  I  am  content.  Law  is  not  in  nature  as  a  prop 
erty,  attribute,  quality,  or  essence.  If  it  is,  why  not  put  it 
down  in  the  categories  of  matter? 

I  have  used  the  word  "  special  Providence,"  and  now  let 


108 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

me  explain.  I  mean  this :  that  God's  providence  is  immedi 
ate  as  to  time,  special  as  to  particulars,  and  universal  as  to 
matter  and  spirit,  including  all  inorganic  things  and  organic 
creatures ;  and  thus  He  acts  immediately,  specially,  and  uni 
versally.  His  special  Providence  to  man  is  man 's  nature ; 
to  fish,  fish 's  nature ;  and  I  understand  this  much  from  your 
"  Theism."  Any  other  explanation  is  to  me  absurd.  Or 
der,  succession,  motion,  beauty,  worm  and  man,  methods,  ap 
parent  exceptions,  all  can  work  and  flow  without  conflict 
here. 

This  opposition  to  the  idea  of  Law  did  not,  so  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  come  from  Comte,  Holyoke,  or  Lewis ;  but  sprung 
up  in  me  spontaneously  when  in  school;  but  I  was  afraid  to 
ask  the  teacher  what  was  meant  by  Law.  So  I  suffered  and 
was  ignorant.  My  ideas  of  technical  theology,  popular  the 
ology,  are  equally  in  the  dark  —  not  clear  in  that  point. 
Fear  is  a  horrible  idea.  A  ' '  monkey  priest  "  is  as  cruel  as 
Hie  grave,  and  as  cold. 

Come  and  go  to  the  nuclei  of  the  winds  and  water  cur 
rents,  and  what  do  you  see?  Nothing  but  constant  modes 
of  operation,  paths,  not  Laws,  which  speak  in  the  eloquence 
of  Gulf  Streams  and  Simoons.  Come  let  us  leap  up  into 
the  uncolumned  air  and  rest  upon  the  spongy  foundation, 
and  there  let  us  see  satellite,  planet,  and  sun ;  sea,  air,  and 
land.  What  do  you  see?  Co-existences  and  successions, 
powers  and  forces,  and  consciously  God  —  no  Laws;  but 
all,  all  governed  by  constant  modes  of  operation,  God  the 
immediate  cause.  This  is  my  philosophy.  Am  I  wrong? 
I  do  not  belong  to  the  sensational  school  —  at  least  do  not 
know  it.  I  would  say  to  the  philosophers,  "  Drive  the 
ultimates  upwards  and  downwards  around  the  circle  till 
they  meet  in  God. ' '  Yours  truly, 

W.  H.  HERNDON. 

P.  S.  In  your  sermons  on  "Providence,"  which  are 
eloquent,  full  of  reason  by  ideas  and  analogy,  there  is  a 
mistake  in  fact.  This  is  a  mistake  in  physiology.  Beasts 
have  pains  in  parturition  and  dentation.  Excuse  me. 

IV 

On  the  day  following  the  inauguration  of  President  Bu 
chanan  the  Supreme  Court  decision  of  the  Dred  Scott  case 
was  announced,  having  been  foreshadowed  with  ill-advised 
plainness  in  the  inaugural  address.  It  held,  with  a  divided 
bench,  it  is  true,  that  negroes  could  never  become  citizens  of 


HERNDON  AND  PABKEB 109 

the  United  States;  that  slaves  must  be  regarded  as  property 
entitled  to  protection  as  such  in  every  part  of  the  Union; 
that  temporary  residence  in  a  Free  State  did  not  give  a  negro 
freedom;  and  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  similar  pro 
hibitory  acts  were  unconstitutional,  Congress  having  no  pow 
er  to  pass  them.  Indeed,  the  Court  went  beyond  the  princi 
ple  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Act  and  held  that  even  the  people 
of  a  Territory  could  not,  prior  to  its  organization  and  ad 
ministration  as  a  State,  exclude  slavery  from  their  midst ;  thus 
making  "  popular  sovereignty  "  invalid,  for  there  was  no 
sovereignty  where  there  was  no  option.  Such  was  the  major 
ity  opinion,  written  by  Chief  Justice  Taney;  the  minority 
opinion  by  Justice  Curtis  took  opposite  ground ;  for  the  judg 
es,  instead  of  writing  ordinary  opinions,  indulged  in  essays 
on  all  branches  of  the  slavery  question.  Both  sides  dealt  with 
matters  not  before  the  Court,  giving  the  decision  the  color  of 
a  sectional  debate,  and  as  such  it  was  received  by  the  country. 
At  last  the  fatal  dualism  of  the  nation  had  reached  the  supreme 
tribunal,  and  unless  the  Court  could  be  made  to  reverse  itself 
there  was  no  appeal  but  to  War. 

Once  again,  as  Lincoln  had  predicted,  the  South  was  flushed 
with  triumph,  and  the  North  ablaze  with  wrath.  The  excite 
ment  increased  and  the  North  was  in  a  veritable  furore  of  in 
dignation,  which  was  unfortunately  justifiable.  Throughout 
the  Free  States,  from  legislative  halls  down  to  the  smallest  de 
bating  society,  the  decision  was  denounced  as  a  conspiracy  on 
the  part  of  the  Slave  Power  to  fasten  slavery  upon  the  nation. 
Herndon  excelled  in  reporting  the  storms  of  popular  feeling, 
as  may  be  seen  in  his  letter  to  Parker  a  few  days  later : 

Springfield,  111.,  March  10,  1857. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  The  import  of  your  letter  to  me  dated  No 
vember,  1856,  just  after  the  Presidential  election,  rises  up 
in  its  importance  and  becomes  more  plain,  as  the  coin  in 
it  is  heated  before  the  fiery  logic  of  sweeping  events.  Those 
three  propositions  stand  out  boldly;  so  that  "he  who  runs 
may  read."  I  understand  that  the  South  are  determined 
to  bend  the  North  or  break  us  in  the  attempt.  They  are 
evidently  presenting  this  alternative :  slavery  for  the  whole 


110 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

race  of  men  in  time,  or  freedom  for  every  man  of  that 
race.  I  had  always  dreamed  that  this  question  would  wear 
off  and  get  more  dim  and  less  terrible  in  the  distance  — 
somewhat  like  a  mirage  when  approached,  slipping  along 
over  the  sandy  desert.  But  I  am  now  beginning  to  be  un 
deceived.  I  am  not  faith-ridden  in  this  idea  any  longer. 
God  preserve  the  Free  and  the  Just! 

Since  I  have  written  you  a  political  letter,  three  grand 
events,  for  the  pro-slave  party,  have  happened:  Firstly, 
the  election  of  James  Buchanan;  Secondly,  the  new  quar 
rels  in  Kansas;  and  Thirdly,  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  "  Dred  Scott  Case." 
The  first  gives  color  to  a  pro-slavery  election  and  admin 
istration;  and  it  will  be  presumed,  contrary  to  the  truth, 
that  the  people  wanted  a  nigger-driving  servant  in  Mr. 
Buchanan,  and  crush  things  accordingly.  The  second 
springs  from  the  first;  and  it  shows  this  —  that  the  pro- 
slavery  party  have  Kansas  beneath  their  iron  heel,  heated 
from  the  furnace  of  "  hell,"  blasting  and  burning  as  they 
tread.  A  million  men  in  Kansas  this  day  could  do  Kansas 
no  good,  except  in  this  —  Revolution.  The  rights  of  ma 
jorities  are  taken  away,  and  the  rights  of  man  wholly  de 
nied  there.  They  have  got  the  engine  of  despotism  geared 
and  organized  with  a  working  despotcratic  institution.  In 
my  humble  opinion  Kansas  will  be  a  Slave  State.  If  the 
South  want  it  a  Slave  State  it  will  be  one ;  but  if  they  can 
do  better,  if  it  will  be  to  their  interests  and  advantage  to 
make  it  free,  then  it  will  be  free  —  not  otherwise.  Not 
as  Freedom  wants;  but  as  the  nigger-makers  see  fit  and 
proper  to  have  it. 

I  was  told  confidentially  the  other  day  by  a  man  who 
pretends  to  know  —  I  think  ought  to  know  —  that  the  peo 
ple  of  Kansas  would  take  no  part  in  any  elections,  for  con 
vention,  Legislature  or  otherwise,  and  that  all  elections  would 
go  by  default;  that  it  would  be  a  Slave  State  spite  of  all 
human  exertions  from  the  free  side ;  and  that  so  soon  as  it 
was  a  State  the  people  would  revolutionize.  This  is  all  that 
can  be  done,  as  those  people  think.  I  see  no  other  hope  at 
present.  This  is  terrible ;  but  if  the  slave-makers  will  have 
it  so  —  so  be  it.  If  the  South  will  tap  the  dinner  gong  and 
call  the  wild,  bony,  quick,  brave  peoples  to  a  feast  of  Civil 
War,  and  make  this  land  quiver  and  ring  from  center  to 
circumference,  then  I  can  but  say  "  the  quicker  the  bet 
ter.  ' '  I  dread  this  whole  matter.  The  issue  is  —  Freedom 
or  Slavery  —  War  in  time  or  Peace. 

The  third  —  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  —  set- 


HERNDON  AND  PARKER Ill- 
ties  the  question  of  the  nationalization  of  slavery,  wipes 
out  State  rights,  crushes  justice,  defies  right ;  says  in  short 
that  the  colored  man  is  not  a  man,  never  shall  be,  was  not 
made  by  God ;  drives  back  this  hoping,  burning  age,  so  far 
as  it  can,  into  barbarism.  I  suppose  that  Court  thinks  it 
has  settled  agitation.  Bah !  ' '  Whom  the  gods  want  to  de 
stroy  they  first  make  mad,"  is  an  old  classic  maxim.  This 
old  heathen  saying  is  partially  true;  and  seems  very  ap 
propriately  to  apply  to  the  southern  hot-heads  at  this  mo 
ment.  Since  the  decision  of  the  ' '  Dred  Scott  Case  ' '  I  have 
seen  calm,  cool,  philosophic  men  grit  their  teeth  and  — 
swear.  What  are  we  to  do,  is  the  question  now  uppermost 
in  all  men 's  minds  —  in  those  hearts  who  love  Liberty,  and 
hate  Slavery.  What  shall  be  done?  How  to  do  it?  Shall 
bloody,  deadly,  internecine,  savage,  civil  war  wipe  out  er 
ror  from  the  "  black-board  "  of  this  democratic  school- 
house  ;  or  shall  the  lesson  be  carved  deeply  in  it,  to  be  read 
by  noble  youths  as  they  shall  spring  on  the  stand  in  after 
ages?  What  say  you?  Can  you  not  write  me  a  few  lines 
—  give  your  ideas  ?  Your  friend, 

W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Parker  was  ill  and  unable  to  reply,  but  Herndon  went  on 
pouring  out  his  feelings,  his  letters  becoming  every  day  more 
intense,  more  vivid,  and  at  times  startlingly  prophetic  of 
coming  events.  He  had  an  intuitive  insight  into  the  hearts  of 
men,  which  made  him  open  to  their  inward  impulses,  even 
before  men  were  themselves  aware  what  they  were  thinking 
and  upon  what  motive  they  would  act : 

Springfield,  111.,  March  30,  1857. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Friend :  —  Yours  of  March  17th  is  this  moment  at 
hand;  and  written  as  it  informs  me  by  the  delicate  hand 
of  your  wife.  Had  it  been  more  lengthy  I  should  have 
preserved  it  during  life,  but  as  it  is,  I  thank  her  and  you 
for  it.  I  hope  you  will  soon  recover  and  be  well  and  vig 
orous  again.  I  want  that  vigor,  like  a  vital  battery,  to 
play  upon  the  fortifications  of  creeping,  approaching  des 
potism.  I  have  tremblingly,  throbbingly,  and  as  rationally 
and  cautiously  as  I  could,  turned  and  returned,  split  and 
divided,  analyzed  and  compounded  this  question  —  the 
slave  question  —  and  I  see  no  way  open  but  cowardice  in 
the  North,  a  "back  down"  in  the  South,  or  —  open,  bloody, 
civil  War.  It  is  horrible.  You  will  excuse  my  timidity 


112 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

now  and  heretofore,  as  you  are  aware  that  almost  all  my 
relations  live  in  the  South,  that  that  is  my  native  country, 
my  child-home.  If,  however,  the  worst  comes  I  hope  to 
act  the  part  of  a  man  —  not  cruelly,  but  firmly  in  humanity. 
I  think  you  have  confidence  in  me  here. 

I  have  just  come  off  the  circuit —  not  an  orthodox 
Christian  circuit,  but  a  law  circuit  —  and  let  me  say  to 
you  this:  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has 
ruined  itself,  cast  off  its  dignity  and  thrown  the  rags  in 
the  face  of  the  people.  I  suppose  you  know  my  standing 
as  a  lawyer  among  my  profession.  If  you  do  not  I  will  not 
say,  but  can  say  this  much,  that  all  the  lawyers  of  any 
virtue  or  eminence  in  this  central  region  curse  the  de 
cision  in  the  "  Dred  Scott  Case."  I  have  seen  gloom  on 
the  faces  of  men  but  never  saw  the  hell-gloom  before.  The 
people  are  stunned  and  are  now  ready  to  flee  or  fight  — 
don't  care  which.  There  is.  a  bitter  time  coming.  Look 
out!  Did  you  ever  see  an  ox  knocked  down  in  a  butcher's 
stall  ?  So  the  people  are  hit  right  in  the  face ;  and  did  you 
ever  see  that  ox  rise  and  run  reeling,  wild,  bleeding,  bel 
lowing,  mad,  furious,  and  destructive?  So  gather  up  this 
people  their  quivering  spasmodic  energy.  I  do  not  think 
there  is  much  exaggeration  in  this  —  far  from  it.  This 
decision,  if  it  may  be  called  one,  is  wicked,  cruel,  and  will 
crush  the  Supreme  Court,  or  destroy  its  power  more  than 
ten  thousand  political  speeches  from  us  Republicans.  It 
is  a  wedge,  as  you  say,  sharp  at  the  penetrating  end,  wide 
at  the  other.  It  enters,  making  but  a  small  crack  at  first, 
but  soon  the  object  opens  and  widens  till  it  is  in  twain.  I 
shall  never  quote  it,  if  I  can  help  it,  when  Taney  gives  the 
decision.  It  is  a  despotocratic  Court  doomed  to  split,  as  the 
Northern  and  Southern  church,  the  Northern  and  South 
ern  people,  the  Northern  and  Southern  gods.  Hang  to 
justice,  love  equity,  do  right,  look  up  to  God  and  hope  — 
that  is  my  motto ;  and  I  will  execute  all  this,  if  I  can,  and 
too  many  temptations  do  not  cross  my  path.  In  Illinois 
this  day  the  Anti-Slavery  spirit  is  more  energetic,  fiery, 
more  daring,  than  ever.  The  end  is  not  yet. 

Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

In  a  note  to  Mrs.  Parker,  accompanying  this  letter,  Mr.  Hern- 
don  confessed  his  reason  for  writing  to  her  husband,  thereby 
answering  a  question  which  must  by  this  time  have  been  in 
the  mind  of  the  reader:  "  Let  me  say  to  you  that  the  reason 
I  write  to  him  is  this:  he  is  about  the  only  man  living  who 


HEBNDON  AND  PABKEB 113 

can  hold  me  steady.  That  is  a  decided  compliment.  I  never 
told  him  this  much,  but  an  opportunity  is  now  afforded  and 
I  quickly  seize  the  occasion.  Excuse  my  rudeness."  One 
week  later  he  wrote  again,  as  one  who  looked  out  upon  an 
angry,  storm-swept  sea,  and  reported  what  he  saw : 

Springfield,  111.,  April  8,  1857. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  The  first  thing  is :  I  hope  you  are  well,  or 
at  least  getting  so.  You  may  not  be  fully  recovered  and 
therefore  too  feeble  to  study,  and  in  this  condition,  a  little 
gloomy  and  a  little  ill,  you  may  desire  to  know  how  the 
healthy  world  moves.  The  spirit-world,  the  man-world, 
moves  along  grandly. 

We  have  just  heard  from  St.  Louis  this  moment;  they 
have  had  a  municipal  election  there,  and  the  emancipation 
ists  —  the  Republicans  —  have  elected  Mr.  Weimer  over 
Mr.  Pratt,  the  candidate  of  the  rich,  cowardly  Whigs  and 
nigger-driving  Democrats.  The  race  was  a  hot  one  —  felt 
here;  but  the  spirit  of  Liberty  is  abroad.  Thank  God! 
The  chains  are  rusted  and  cracking.  Those  are  noble  boys 
in  St.  Louis.  They  are  Yankees  mostly  and  Kentuckians. 
The  Germans  here  are  throwing  high  their  hats;  the  Irish 
crouch  and  cower;  they  see  their  fate  written  on  the  wall. 
The  Bible  says,  "  place  high  "  some  sign  "  that  he  may 
run  that  readeth  it."  (Habakkuk  2:20.)  You  know  it  is 
generally  quoted  thus :  ' '  he  may  read  that  runs, ' '  but 
this  is  wrong.  The  sign  is  high  and  legible.  Now  I  do  not 
say  all  this,  do  not  see  with  a  philosophic  eye  all  they  feel, 
yet  they  feel  and  look  just  as  I  tell  you.  If  instinctive 
sagacity,  if  intuition  is  correct,  then  is  slavery  to  a  certain 
extent  doomed  around  this  region.  I  see  it  in  the  counte 
nances  of  the  nigger-driving  editors  here.  Their  thoughts 

as  seen  floating  in  the  eye  and  on  the  lip  say  this :  ' '  D 

Douglas,  curse  the  Supreme  Court;  it  made  a  foolish  de 
cision  in  the  Dred  Scott  case ;  we  are  ruined.  0 !  that 
we  were  back  where  we  were  in  1853."  You  know  I  am 
a  kind  of  people 's  boy ;  I  am  with  them,  and  when  they  do 
not  know  it  I  am  pillowing  my  chin  on  my  hand,  looking 
right  into  their  souls;  and  when  I  say  to  you,  "  There  is 
something  there  of  fire,  of  gloom,  a  calculated  determina 
tion  to  flee,  or  fight  out  this  nigger  question  —  that  even 
the  voice  tells  of  the  disturbed  soul,  that  the  chin  blabs, 
that  the  man  is  ablaze,"  you  must  believe  me.  I  am  not 
fooled  as  to  present  appearances.  I  am  hard  to  fool  here 


114 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

among  these  people.  They  may  step  backwards  soon,  but 
now  they  would  fight  quickly  —  at  the  drop  of  a  hat.  This 
nigger  question  is  deepening,  broadening,  heightening  here, 
and  I  hope  it  may  be  continued  forever  —  at  least  till  there 
shall  be  no  more  slavery.  I  re-read  your  two  speeches  on 
the  ' '  Great  Battle  ' '  yesterday ;  and  when  you  are  talking 
about  pulling  up  weeds,  and  about  the  intuitions  of  Sew- 
ard,  etc.,  I  think  —  aye. 

We  had  an  election  here  on  yesterday  and  it  turned  out 
as  follows:  the  Eepublicans  were  wholly  defeated.  We 
quarreled  over  temperance.  We  ran  some  Know-Nothings, 
and  the  Dutch  to  a  man  voted  against  this  proceeding. 
We  are  whipped  badly.  I  opposed  all  the  whiskey  issues 
—  the  Know-Nothings  —  but  could  do  no  good.  We  have 
learned  a  good  lesson  —  do  better  next  time. 

I  had,  this  morning,  a  most  excellent  "  chat  "  with  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Finley,  of  this  State,  about  colonization.  He  is 
a  very  fine  man  —  ideas  as  clear  as  a  bell.  His  ideas  are  that 
the  niggers  are  doomed  to  move  off  South  gradually.  He 
sees  the  Virginia  moves  and  the  Missouri  moves  in  no  other 
light  than  a  move  of  the  emancipationists.  I  had  a  most 
entertaining  conversation  on  yesterday  with  one  of  the  lead 
ing  emancipationists  of  Missouri,  and  one  of  the  leading 
Republicans  of  this  State.  Do  not  ask  who  they  are  —  will 
tell  you  about  it  ere  long.  This  is  the  substance  of  it :  the 
Missouri  Democrat  is  to  open  and  bloom  for  Republicanism 
in  1860.  The  Louisville  Journal  is  to  follow,  and  some  pa 
per  in  Virginia  is  to  fall  into  the  trail,  all  of  which  is,  as 
it  were,  to  happen  accidentally.  The  Democrat  is  simply 
to  suggest,  the  Journal  is  to  suggest  still  stronger,  and  at 
last  all  are  to  open  wide  for  Republicanism.  As  these  two 
men  said.  "  We  are  to  see  the  devil  in  these  border  States 
in  1860."  These  two  men  are  more  than  ordinary  men; 
the  conversation  was  in  my  office,  and  was  confidential; 
therefore  I  keep  dark  and  request  you  to  do  so  on  the  Mis 
souri  man 's  account  —  don 't  care  for  the  Illinois  man.  You 
know  the  Illinois  man.  My  little  girl  sends  her  respects. 
Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

We  may  guess  that  the  two  men  were  Frank  Blair  and  Abra 
ham  Lincoln,  who  were  at  that  time  trying,  with  the  aid  of 
their  friend  George  D.  Prentice  of  the  Louisville  Journal,  to 
make  such  a  move.  But  the  hope  of  the  emancipationists, 
noble  though  it  was  in  its  just  conservatism,  was  futile  and 
doomed  to  failure.  In  the  meantime  Herndon  —  recently 


HERNDON  AND  PABKEB 115 

appointed  a  bank  examiner  by  Governor  Bissell  —  betakes 
himself  to  the  woods  to  escape  the  seething  confusion  of 
politics : 

Springfield,  111.,  May  14,  1857. 
Mr.  Parker, 

Dear  Sir :  —  It  has  been  but  a  little  time  since  I  wrote 
to  you,  and  I  have  not  much  news  to  send.  Still,  I  have  a 
word  or  two  to  say  to  you,  by  way  of  encouragement.  I 
hope  you  are  better  than  you  were  some  time  ago ;  hate  to 
see  you  down  in  bed;  know  that  it  is  annoying  you.  You 
are  nervous  and  do  not  like  to  be  still;  do  not  like  to  be 
chained  in  any  sense ;  yet  your  philosophy  may  teach  you 
repose,  contentment,  rest  without  a  growl.  In  this  you 
have  the  advantage  of  me. 

Well,  since  the  decision  in  the  Dred  Scott  case  I  have 
been  among  our  people  a  great  deal,  and  I  can  say  to  you 
that  none  like  it,  and  some  Democrats  have  been  so  bold 
as  to  repudiate  the  court  and  party.  They  stand  up  this 
day  freemen  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term,  defying  party 
hacks  and  throwing  off  old  party  associations.  Since  I 
wrote  you  I  have  conversed  with  many  of  my  profession, 
and  they  scout  the  court  and  the  reasons  of  the  decision. 
This  decision  has  hurt  the  court  very  much,  has  hurt  the 
nigger-driving  Democracy.  Has  not  the  stand  Curtis  has 
taken  aided  his  waning  popularity,  his  doubtful  position? 
I  think  the  nigger-driving  court  and  the  persecutions  of  the 
Southern  press  will  drive  Curtis  to  be  an  Abolitionist,  if 
such  a  thing  can  be  possible.  You  know  the  result  bettei 
than  I  do  or  can. 

This  is  enough  about  politics,  and  so  let  me  turn  to  a 
more  congenial  subject.  I  became  tired  of  books,  office  and 
court,  on  yesterday,  and  so  took  a  walk  in  the  wild  woods, 
where  I  could  see  Nature  in  the  face.  It  has  been  very 
cold  for  the  last  month,  but  within  a  few  days  spring  seems 
to  have  sent  her  electricity  along  the  earth  and  made  her 
smile  in  flower  blushes.  In  entering  the  woods  the  first 
thing  that  arrested  my  eye  was  our  wild  gooseberry  bushes. 
They  are  out,  in  almost  full  leaf,  and  look  fresh  and  lovely 
even  in  their  thorns.  As  I  crept  amid  the  brush  the  cat 
bird  would  flutter  along  just  before  me,  sometimes  on  the 
ground  and  sometimes  on  a  bush.  The  bluebell  is  up  and 
in  full  bloom.  You  remember  what  you  said  about  this 
universal  flower.  It  is  rather  a  pretty  flower  for  the  early 
spring.  The  lamb-tongue  is  up,  full  of  life  and  vitality. 
The  johnny- jumpups  are  smiling  upwards  with  their  deli- 


116 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

cate  but  cunning  laugh.  These  flowers  are  "  game,"  and 
so  the  boys  and  girls  gather  hat-fulls  and  apron-fulls  and 
have  a  fight.  They  have  a  peculiar  turn  of  the  neck  just 
below  the  flower  and  this  serves  as  a  notch;  and  the  boys 
and  girls  hitch  one  to  the  other  and  "  pull  out,"  and  so 
the  strongest  and  most  wiry  takes  the  day.  Fraud  and 
cunning  are  in  this  game,  as  well  as  in  others.  The  knowing 
ones,  boys  and  girls,  run  crooked  pins  up  the  stalks,  and 
so  make  the  pin  do  the  deceitful  service.  Fraud  and  de 
ception  are  twins  to  man.  Look  down  into  the  eternal  or- 
ganizable  fluid  and  see  the  germ  cell:  in  it  are  crouched 
life  and  death  —  man  and  deception. 

Let  me  quit  this :  it  is  ugly.  Down  the  hollow  I  see,  on 
an  elm,  several  squirrels,  hopping  and  chattering,  and  so 
I  am  going  down  to  see  what  I  can  see.  Here  they  are. 
They  pay  no  attention  to  me ;  they  know  I  have  no  gun,  and 
so  they  can  be  saucy.  The  squirrels  are  after  buds ;  they 
want  something  fresh  and  green  to  lave  the  winter's  thirst 
—  so  long  since  they  have  had  vegetables.  A  little  fellow 
runs  out  as  far  as  his  limb  and  weight  will  let  him.  He 
cunningly  puts  out  his  paw  and  pulls  the  limb  in  and  eats 
off  the  buds,  and  lets  the  limb  fly  back  again.  If  I  had  a 
gun  I  think  I  could  spat  them  off.  This  is,  I  know,  cruel, 
yet  I  cannot  help  it.  I  remember  what  you  said  about  the 
"  dandy  "  shooting  little  birds.  Every  time  I  put  a  gun 
to  my  face  I  can  see  the  "  dandy  "  of  whom  you  spoke. 
Do  not  liken  him  to  myself  or  I  shall  go  mad.  To  kill 
things  for  mere  sport  is  cruel  in  the  extreme,  but  we  do  not 
do  it  here.  If  we  kill  anything  out  here  it  is  to  eat,  or  to 
save  poultry;  and  if  this  is  no  justification,  then  we  must 
throw  ourselves  upon  the  universal  custom,  which  is  so 
aged  that  no  man's  mind  runs  to  the  contrary. 

I  move  down  to  a  small  lake,  one  end  of  which  runs  into 
a  creek.  The  lake  is  in  the  shape  of  a  horseshoe,  and  near 
the  creek  fish  have  their  sport.  There  they  play  and  spawn 
upon  the  ripple.  I  am  looking  at  a  large  bass,  playing 
backwards  and  forwards,  breathing  leisurely,  as  if  he 
were  in  air.  The  water  is  pure  and  clean.  The  fish  is  about 
two  feet  long,  fat  and  nimble.  Wave  but  a  hand  and  he  is 
off  into  the  deep.  He  sees  his  shadow  and  supposes  it  is 
another  fish,  for  he  seems  to  woo  it,  twists  his  tail  and  wants 
to  hug  his  shadow  companion;  yet  it  slips  away  from  him. 
I  love  nature  better  than  most  men.  My  first  love  is  God, 
then  man,  then  nature.  Yours  truly, 

W.  H.  HERNDON. 


HERNDON  AND  PARKER  117 


Armed  with  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  Douglas  hastened  home 
to  use  it  as  a  cudgel  upon  the  heads  of  his  Republican  foes, 
whom  he  was  anxious  to  brand  as  advocates  of  lawlessness, 
disunion,  and  negro  equality.  It  suited  his  purpose  to  re 
gard  all  who  questioned  the  infallibility  of  the  decision  as 
anarchists  who  resisted  the  Supreme  Court,  and  by  raising  a 
cloud  of  race  antipathy  and  partisan  rancor  he  sought  to  di 
vert  attention  from  his  more  difficult  task  of  making  the  de 
cision  fit  into  his  own  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty.  In 
his  speech  at  Springfield,  June  12th,  he  covered  the  opinion 
of  Judge  Taney  with  wreaths  of  eulogy  while  at  the  same 
time  arguing  that  he  had  saved  the  principle  of  his  pet  dog 
ma,  whereas  he  had  saved  only  the  shadow  of  it.  Nor  should 
it  pass  unnoted  that  he  here  distinctly  announced  what  was 
afterwards  known  as  his  "  Freeport  doctrine,"  and  which 
was  supposed  to  have  lost  him  the  South.  Speaking  of  the 
right  of  a  master  to  his  slave  in  any  Territory,  which  the  court 
had  upheld,  he  said: 

While  the  right  continues  in  full  force  under  the  guaran 
tees  of  the  Constitution,  and  cannot  be  divested  or  alien 
ated  by  an  act  of  Congress,  it  necessarily  remains  a  bar 
ren  and  worthless  right,  unless  sustained,  protected,  and 
enforced  by  appropriate  police  regulations  and  local  legis 
lation,  prescribing  adequate  remedies  for  its  violation. 
These  regulations  and  remedies  must  necessarily  depend 
entirely  upon  the  will  and  wishes  of  the  people  of  the 
Territory,  as  they  can  only  be  prescribed  by  the  local  leg 
islatures.  .  .  .  Hence  the  great  principle  of  popular  sov 
ereignty  and  self-government  is  sustained  and  firmly  es 
tablished  by  the  authority  of  this  decision.  .  .  .  [Nor  did 
he  forget  to  ask:]  When  you  confer  upon  the  African  race 
the  privileges  of  citizenship,  and  put  them  on  an  equality 
with  white  men  at  the  polls,  in  the  jury  box,  on  the  bench, 
in  the  Executive  chair,  and  in  the  councils  of  the  nation, 
upon  what  principle  will  you  deny  their  equality  at  the 
festive  board  and  in  the  domestic  circle? 

Naturally  such  a  mixture  of  sophistry  and  prejudice  fanned 
the  Republicans  to  a  white  heat  of  indignation,  and  their 


118 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

words  took  fire.  Herndon  devoted  several  editorials  to  a 
review  of  the  speech,  or  rather  to  a  review  of  Douglas  him 
self,  whom  he  flayed  unmercifully;  and  an  excerpt  from  one 
of  them  may  serve  as  an  example  of  his  editorial  writing, 
and  as  a  faithful  picture  of  the  seething  state  of  the  public 
mind.  Writing  in  the  Daily  Republican  of  Springfield,  under 
date  of  June  15th,  he  said: 

This  speech  of  the  Senator  is  his  great  central  speech  of 
1857,  which  is  to  wave  off  to  the  shores  of  the  State,  pre 
paratory  to  the  Senatorial  struggle  of  1859.  He  is  com 
mencing  the  canvass  early  —  is  intensifying  the  heating 
and  boiling  strife,  hoping  thereby  to  allay  the  uprising 
bubbles.  Poor  man !  "We  pity  him !  Does  he  suppose  that 
the  children  of  that  people  who  in  the  reign  of  Henry  I. 
enacted  and  passed  this  law  — ' '  Let  no  man,  for  the  fu 
ture,  presume  to  carry  on  the  practice  of  selling  men  in 
market  like  brute-beasts,  which  has  hitherto  been  the  cus 
tom  of  England  ' '  —  will  prove  less  ' '  stubborn  ' '  than 
then  for  the  rights  of  man?  Poor  creature  of  the  Black 
Power !  Does  he  dream  that  the  men  who  sprang  from  the 
sires  who  declared  that  "  resistance  to  tyrants  was  obedi 
ence  to  God,"  will  be  less  "  pestiferous  "  and  "  unruly  " 
than  when  this  immortal  truth  was  uttered?  Poor  tool  of 
Southern  despots !  Does  he  suppose  that  the  children  of 
those  men  who  enunciated  the  God-generated  truth  "  that 
all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights;"  will  basely  hug 
their  chains  at  the  bidding  of  a  demagogue? 

In  truth  the  Douglas  now  is  not  the  Douglas  of  1850 
or  1854.  He  is  conscious  of  a  power  —  the  power  of  the 
people  outraged,  betrayed,  wronged;  and  so  he  did  not 
leap  upon  the  stand  with  his  accustomed  force  and  defiant 
tone;  he  is  somewhat  cut;  he  is  full  of  seeming  humility; 
his  long  whip  fore-finger  did  not  crack  so  commandingly 
as  was  its  wont.  He  appears  pinched,  cramped,  shriveled 
up;  his  squat  form  is  low  and  his  voice  harsh.  When  he 
would  elevate  his  form  to  his  inner  thought  his  person 
would  draw  in,  as  if  touched  on  the  shoulder  by  the  ghost- 
finger  of  Brown  or  some  other  patriot-spirit  of  Kansas, 
who  had  sealed  his  life  by  the  blood  of  liberty.  His  gait 
and  position  were  uneasy,  as  if  there  were  beneath  him  the 
rattling  bones  of  murdered  patriots,  struggling  that  they 
might  rise  up  and  confront  in  honorable  combat  the  traitor 
to  his  country  and  the  universal  foe  of  man.  Not  for  this 


HERNDON  AND  PAEKEB 119 

whole  globe  with  all  its  wealth,  pomp  and  gold,  would  we 
be  Douglas  —  the  iron-ball  Senator  from  Illinois.  We  will 
review  his  speech  more  particularly  in  a  day  or  so.  In  the 
meantime  we  shall  study  Douglas  and  his  fate. 

' '  Let  tyrants,  who  hate  truth  and  fear  the  free, 
Know  that  to  rule  in  slavery  and  error 
For  mere  ends  of  personal  pomp  and  power, 
Is  such  a  sin  as  doth  deserve  a  hell 
To  itself  sole." 

Herndon  did  not  disguise  his  contempt  for  Douglas,  both 
personally  and  politically,  and  whenever  he  wrote  or  spoke 
about  him  his  words  took  the  form  of  impassioned  and  re 
lentless  philippic.  This  dislike  was  partly  temperamental, 
partly  spiritual,  and  it  became  more  intense  every  year  as 
he  saw  Douglas  playing  politics  with  the  most  sacred  princi 
ples;  though,  as  we  shall  see,  in  his  last  years  Herndon  was 
willing  to  modify  some  of  his  early  judgments,  but  to  the  end 
he  sincerely  believed  that  Douglas  was  a  demagogue,  all  the 
more  dangerous  because  of  his  shrewd  audacity,  his  resource 
fulness,  and  his  personal  power.  The  article  just  quoted, 
which  reads  more  like  an  oration  than  an  editorial,  was 
clipped  and  sent  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Parker,  who  preserved  it 
among  his  papers.  The  accompanying  letter  was  even  more 
severe : 

Springfield,  111.,  June  17,  1857. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Friend :  —  Enclosed  is  a  piece  of  my  scribbling  for 
our  Republican.  I  send  to  you,  in  place  of  a  letter,  this 
political  article.  I  have  been  writing  eight  or  ten  articles 
for  the  Republican,  reviewing  Douglas's  late  speech.  They 
are  said  to  be  good.  I  do  not  send  this  to  "  show  off,"  but 
to  let  you  know  what  I  am  doing.  Hope  you  will  like  the 
tone  of  the  articles.  .  .  .  Douglas  spoke  here  as  represented : 
Lincoln  will  answer.  It  will  be  an  answer.  I  know  both 
men  well,  for  long,  long  years.  Lincoln  is  a  gentleman; 
Douglas  is  —  well,  what  shall  I  say?  —  an  unscrupulous 
dog.  He  is  a  hybrid ;  Nature  says  to  him  Perish  and  Rot ! 
What  is  the  matter  with  you?  Are  you  offended? 

Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Lincoln  did  make  answer  on  June  26th,  calmly  analyzing  and 
dissecting  the  speech  of  Douglas  as  though  he  were  arguing 


120 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

a  case  in  court.  Herndon  seems  to  have  been  disappointed 
with,  the  temperature  of  the  reply,  which,  beyond  its  dia 
lectical  skill  in  making  Douglas  undo  Douglas,  and  a  notable 
passage  about  negro  equality,  lacked  fire.  One  has  only  to 
read  the  speech  side  by  side  with  the  editorial  to  see  the  con 
trast  between  the  two  men;  one  quick,  impulsive,  and  often 
times  precipitate,  the  other  coolly  piling  up  his  wrath  and 
strength  for  a  future  sweeping  and  gigantic  blow.  Said 
Lincoln : 

Judge  Douglas  does  not  discuss  the  merits  of  the  decision, 
and  in  that  respect  I  shall  follow  his  example,  because  I 
could  no  more  improve  on  McLean  and  Curtis  than  he 
could  on  Taney.  He  denounces  all  who  question  the  cor 
rectness  of  the  decision,  as  offering  violent  resistance  to  it. 
But  who  resists  it?  Who  has,  in  spite  of  the  decision,  de 
clared  Dred  Scott  free,  and  resisted  the  authority  of  his 
master  over  him?  .  .  .  But  we  think  the  Dred  Scott  de 
cision  is  erroneous.  We  know  the  court  that  made  it  has 
often  overruled  its  own  decisions,  and  we  shall  do  what  we 
can  to  have  it  overrule  this.  We  offer  no  resistance  to  it. 
.  .  .  Why,  this  same  Supreme  Court  once  decided  a  na 
tional  bank  to  be  constitutional;  but  General  Jackson,  as 
President  of  the  United  States,  disregarded  the  decision, 
and  vetoed  a  bill  for  a  recharter.  .  .  .  Again  and  again 
I  have  heard  Judge  Douglas  denounce  that  bank  decision 
and  applaud  General  Jackson  for  disregarding  it.  It 
would  be  interesting  for  him  to  look  over  his  recent  speech 
es,  and  see  how  exactly  his  fierce  philippics  against  us  ... 
fall  upon  his  own  head. 

Three  years  ago,  Judge  Douglas  brought  forward  his 
famous  Nebraska  Bill.  The  country  was  at  once  ablaze.  .  .  . 
Since  then  he  has  seen  himself  superseded  in  a  Presidential 
nomination,  .  .  .  and  he  has  seen  that  successful  rival  con 
stitutionally  elected,  not  by  the  strength  of  friends,  but 
by  the  division  of  adversaries,  being  in  a  popular  minority 
of  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  votes.  He  has  seen  his 
chief  aids  in  his  own  State,  Shields  and  Richardson,  polit 
ically  speaking,  successively  tried,  convicted,  and  executed 
for  an  offence  not  their  own,  but  his.  And  now  he  sees  his 
oivn  case  standing  next  on  the  docket  for  trial. 

Now  I  protest  against  the  counterfeit  logic  which  con 
cludes  that,  because  I  do  not  want  a  black  woman  for  a 
slave  I  must  necessarily  want  her  for  a  wife.  I  need  not 


HERNDON  AND  PARKER 121 

have  her  for  either.  I  can  just  let  her  alone.  In  some  respects 
she  certainly  is  not  my  equal;  but  in  her  natural  right  to 
eat  the  bread  she  earns  with  her  own  hands,  without  asking 
leave  of  anyone  else,  she  is  my  equal  and  the  equal  of  all 
others.  .  .  .  But  Judge  Douglas  is  especially  horrified 
at  the  thought  of  the  mixing  of  blood  by  the  white  and 
black  races.  .  .  .  On  this  point  we  fully  agree  with  the 
Judge,  and  when  he  shall  show  that  his  policy  is  better  adapt 
ed  to  prevent  amalgamation  than  ours,  we  shall  drop  ours 
and  adopt  his.  Let  us  see.  .  .  .  Statistics  show  that  slavery 
is  the  greatest  source  of  amalgamation,  and  next  to  it,  not 
the  elevation,  but  the  degradation  of  the  free  blacks.  Yet 
Judge  Douglas  dreads  the  slightest  restraints  on  the  spread 
of  slavery,  and  the  slightest  human  recognition  of  the  ne 
gro,  as  tending  horribly  to  amalgamation! 

As  Douglas  went  on  with  his  speaking  tour,  by  some  slip  of 
type  or  lip  he  began  to  misquote  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  making  it  read  "  all  men  were  created  equal,"  in 
stead  of  "  are  created  equal."  Herndon  was  quick  to  make 
note  of  the  discrepancy  in  his  editorials,  charging  that  Doug 
las  was  deliberately  perverting  the  words  and  making  one 
speech  for  the  North  and  another  for  the  South.  It  seems 
that  one  rendering  appeared  in  the  Springfield  State  Regis 
ter,  another  in  the  Missouri  Republican,  and  still  another  in 
the  Chicago  Times,  which  was  singular  to  say  the  least.  The 
State  Register  explained  that  it  was  due  to  a  typographical 
error  sufficiently  obvious  to  any  one  not  "  triply  endowed 
with  the  manners  of  a  ruffian,  the  honesty  of  a  rogue,  and  the 
intellect  of  a  fool. ' '  But  Herndon  persisted,  and  indeed  made 
out  a  very  good  case,  which  he  used  after  this  manner  in  the 
Daily  Republican,  June  20th: 

"  When  shall  we  three  meet  again? 
In  thunder,  lightning,  or  in  rain!  " 

In  the  year  1854,  Mr.  Petit,  a  sham  Democratic  Senator, 
rose  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  said  that  the  Declara 
tion  of  American  Independence  was  "  a  self-evident  lie." 
An  itinerant  nigger  preacher,  Mr.  Ross,  a  sham  Democratic 
high  priest,  so  late  as  1857,  says  that  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  is  absurd;  and  now,  in  the  month  of  June, 
A.  D.  1857,  here  in  this  city,  Senator  Douglas  says  the  Dec- 


122  LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 

laration  of  American  liberty  is  untrue.    He  is  polite  in 
his  epithets. 

We  are  surprised  that  Douglas  should  follow  a  negro 
man,  a  black  nigger  priest,  and  pronounce  the  glorious  Dec 
laration  of  American  Independence  an  untruth  —  a  self- 
evident  falsehood  —  a  lie  and  a  political  farce  which  has 
played  out  its  day  upon  the  boards.  However,  Mr.  Douglas 
did  it,  and  we  appeal  to  the  audience  who  heard  his  speech 
here  in  the  capitol,  June,  A.  D.  1857,  and  beneath  the  stars 
and  stripes  floating  proudly  above  him.  We  appeal  to  his 
printed  speech  for  substantial  proof  of  this  charge.  We 
are  willing  to  acknowledge  that  he  did  not  say  it  was  false, 
though  he  said  it  was  not  true  generally ;  but  he  intended 
to  convey  to  the  uninitiated  that  it  was  a  palpable  lie. 
Petit  —  Ross  —  Douglas, 

"  When  shall  we  three  meet  again? 
In  thunder,  lightning  or  in  rain!  " 

Herndon  sent  this  editorial,  with  others,  to  Parker,  along  with 
a  rapid  fire  of  letters  urging  him  to  use  them  against  Douglas 
in  New  England,  which  Parker  very  properly  neglected  to  do. 
The  letters,  marked  ' '  private, ' '  were  brief,  excited  and  hasty, 
and  may  be  summarized  under  one  date  as  follows : 

Springfield,  111.,  July  4,  1857. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  Thanks  for  yours  of  the  24th  inst.  I  did 
as  you  requested  —  gave  Mr.  Lincoln  your  best  wishes. 
He  returns  them.  I  send  you  this  day  one  of  Mr.  Lincoln 's 
speeches  in  the  State  Journal.  Douglas's  speech  was  a 
low,  gutter-rabble  rousing  speech.  Lincoln's  was  gentle 
manly,  strong,  and  conclusive.  The  difference  is  very  ap 
parent.  Sorry  you  are  sick. 

I  am  still  at  duty  in  the  ocean  of  Illinois  politics.  Doug 
las  has  made  a  speech  here  as  you  know,  but  he  has  made 
two  different  editions,  one  for  the  North,  one  for  the 
South;  one  in  the  State  Register,  one  in  the  Missouri  Re 
publican;  different  in  substance,  in  essence.  It  ought  to 
kill  him.  Do  you  know  how  it  will  affect  him  —  quoted 
Declaration  of  Independence  two  ways  —  not  an  accident, 
done  for  effect,  thought  it  would  not  be  discovered.  .  .  . 
Let's  kill  off  the  great  Dough  Face!  ...  I  want  to  let  you 
see  where  Douglas  is  drifting.  I  now  send  you  his  last  bid, 
and  that  is  no  less  than  utter  prostration  of  human  liberty 
and  rights  in  Kansas.  What  a  scoundrel!  After  reading 


HEBNDON  AND  PARKER 123 

hand  to  Phillips.  Good  God !  are  not  the  Democrats  crazy  ? 
I  herewith  send  you  a  forgery  on  Lincoln  and  Trumbull : 
it  appeared  in  the  State  Register  July  2,  1857 ;  that  of  the 
Times  on  July  1st.  The  Register  article,  in  double  col 
umn,  is  a  base,  wilful  forgery  —  never  was  in  either  of 
the  speeches.  Do  not  fail  to  keep  what  I  send  you  till  you 
or  Mr.  Phillips  let  off  a  gun. 

Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

The  "  forgery  "  referred  to  was  an  attempt  of  the  State 
Register  to  array  Lincoln  against  Trumbull,  using  the  ' '  dead 
ly  parallel  "  to  show  from  their  own  words  that  one  advised 
submission  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  and  the  other  resist 
ance  to  it.  Such  apparent  conflict  of  opinion  between  ' '  these 
two  great  black  Republican  pop  guns  "  filled  the  Register 
with  glee,  and  it  was  unable  to  tell  which  was  "  the  true 
black  Republican,  and  which  the  bogus."  Such  tactics  only 
amused  Lincoln,  while  they  angered  Herndon  almost  beyond 
measure;  but  a  more  distressing  matter  now  engaged  the 
latter : 

Springfield,  111.,  July  29,  1857. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  send  you  to-day  three  speeches ;  one  by 
Senator  Douglas;  one  by  Senator  Trumbull;  and  one  by 
Mr.  Lincoln.  Mr.  Lincoln  has  gone  to  New  York  or  he 
would  have  sent  them  to  you  himself.  However,  I  will  do 
as  well  for  this  small  duty.  "We  are  cutting  the  iron-chain 
Democracy  to  the  quick :  they  feel  it ;  they  show  they  feel 
it  —  show  it  in  looks,  acts,  maneuvers.  Douglas  has  con 
fessed  his  blunder  to  his  private  friends,  who  have  by  de 
sign  or  by  accident  let  it  leak  out.  One  thing  is  assuredly 
certain :  our  country  people  say,  irrespective  of  party,  that 
Douglas  was  whipped  for  once.  I  have  heard  this  "  many 
and  many  a  time." 

When  I  wrote  you  last  I  did  not  think  I  should  write 
you  so  soon  again;  yet  such  unheard-of  proceedings  have 
taken  place  here,  that  I  cannot  refrain.  A  slave  was  ar 
rested  in  Logan  County  and  brought  here  for  trial.  He 
was  poor  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  I  freely  volunteered 
for  the  poor  fellow;  but  in  doing  so  I  came  near  having 
my  own  rights  stricken  down  in  court  by  my  own  brother. 
It  was  contended  that  I  had  no  right  to  appear  in  court 
for  the  negro.  I  repelled  this  in  strong  language,  if  I  may 
say  so.  The  poor  negro  was  tried  and  sent  South  —  could 


124 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

not  prevent  it.  You  cannot  do  anything  when  the  iron- 
chain  logic  is  around  the  man  and  fetters  are  on  his  limbs. 
I  send  this  to  let  you  see  that  I  am  not  afraid  to  do  openly 
what  I  write  privately.  Look  at  it  from  this  point  and 
this  point  alone.  Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

P.  S.  The  reason  why  I  wrote  to  you  and  said  "  pri 
vate  "  not  long  since  was  on  Mr.  Lincoln's  account,  not 
my  own.  Base  politicians  would  charge  him  with  sending 
you  matter.  That  was  the  reason  and  that  alone  that  made 
me  say  "  private." 

No  doubt  Lincoln,  knowing  that  Douglas  was  eager  to  link 
him  with  the  Abolitionists,  and  thus  fasten  the  odium  of  that 
name  upon  him,  had  warned  Herndon  about  urging  Mr. 
Parker  to  attack  Douglas  for  his  local  tricks.  At  last  Mr. 
Parker  found  time  for  a  brief  reply,  commending  Herndon 
for  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  fugitive  slave  and  expressing 
his  own  disgust  at  the  Dred  Scott  decision : 

Newton  Center,  Mass.,  Aug.  9,  1857. 
Dear  Mr.  Herndon: 

I  thank  you  for  sending  me  the  slips  from  the  news 
paper,  and  still  more  for  the  noble  defence  you  made  of 
the  rights  of  the  poor,  unfortunate  man.  Of  course  it  was 
unavailing!  "  On  the  side  of  the  oppressor  there  was 
power."  The  Democratic  party  is  in  office  and  it  has  the 
same  relation  to  progress  in  America  that  the  Roman  Cath 
olic  Church  has  in  Europe.  We  can  do  nothing  until  that 
party  is  broken  to  fragments  and  ground  to  powder.  You 
see  all  the  Democratic  conventions  in  all  the  States,  pass 
resolutions  in  favor  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  with  its 
falsification  of  testimony  and  its  prostitution  of  law.  The 
Supreme  Court  will  decide  that  it  is  unconstitutional  to  pro 
hibit  the  importation  of  slaves,  and  the  Democrats  will  en 
dorse  the  decision.  Yours  truly,  THEO.  PARKER. 

In  more  than  one  brief  note  Parker  had  sent  his  best  wishes 
to  Lincoln,  though  the  name  of  Lincoln  does  not  appear  in 
the  long  list  of  his  political  correspondents.  This  would  be 
stranger  if  Parker  had  not  had  in  Herndon  a  mediator 
through  whom  he  could  express  his  approval  of  Lincoln's 
course  from  time  to  time;  at  other  times  his  doubts.  Ap 
parently  they  never  met,  but  a  few  months  later  we  find 
Parker  standing  out  emphatically  against  the  attempt  of 


HERNDON  AND  PABKEB 125 

Greeley  to  induce  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  to  desert  Lin 
coln.  Replying  to  the  above  letter,  Mr.  Herndon  wrote  in  a 
mood  of  mingled  hope  and  gloom  —  hope  for  the  future  of 
his  party  in  Illinois,  with  dark  forebodings  as  to  the  future 
of  the  nation : 

Springfield,  111.,  Sept.  8,  1857. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  received  your  very  encouraging  letter 
some  time  since,  for  which  I  am  obliged.  I  was  in  court 
when  it  came,  or  should  have  answered  sooner.  ...  In 
attending  to  the  poor  negro's  case  I  felt  I  was  doing  my 
duty,  and  did  not  care  for  personal  consequences  to  my 
self.  I  simply  asked  myself  this  question,  "  Is  it  right?  " 
Having  determined  that  I  went  into  the  matter  with  all  my 
energy  and  ability,  though  little  and  small.  Some  say  it 
was  bold  for  this  section  and  not  very  prudent,  as  I  was  a 
kind  of  Republican  school-master,  or  what  not:  others  say 
it  was  outrageously  wrong,  as  it  will  set  a  bad  example  to 
young  lawyers  who  will  follow.  Gad  grant  they  may  ever 
do  so.  Others,  the  good  and  the  true,  cry  "  Well  done," 
and  so  the  world  wags. 

I  have  been  philosophizing  on  our  State  lately,  and  have 
come  to  this  conclusion:  that  Illinois  is  forever  gone  from 
the  iron-chain  Democracy,  if  the  Anti-Slavery  men  act 
prudently  in  putting  up  brave  and  good  men.  The  reason 
why  I  say  Illinois  is  gone,  "  hook  and  line,"  from  the 
Democracy,  is  this:  five  out  of  every  seven  Fillmore  men 
will  go  to  the  Republican  cause:  there  is  about  30,000  of 
them,  and  giving  the  Republicans  21,000  and  the  Demo 
crats  9,000,  and  taking  Buchanan's  majority  at  7,000,  we 
have  the  tyrants  on  the  hip,  with  a  majority  in  our  favor 
of  about  7,000.  When  we  see  immigrants  coming  in,  and 
knowing  that  four  out  of  five  of  them  are  for  us,  we  can 
not  doubt  longer  how  Illinois  is  to  stand  politically  in  the 
future.  I  have  talked  with  others  and  they  wholly  agree 
with  me.  Some  go  farther  and  are  more  enthusiastic  in 
their  calculations  than  I  am.  The  north  of  our  State  is 
filling  up  with  an  unprecedented  rapidity,  and  that  sec 
tion  is  wholly  free,  as  you  know.  The  South  is  filling  up 
but  slowly,  and  those  who  come  are  generally  for  freedom 
—  a  majority  are  so. 

The  late  negro  murders  —  butcheries  —  have  done  us 
good :  it  has  waked  up  the  idle  and  indifferent  to  see.  What 
is  to  become  of  this  land?  I  see,  but  will  not  talk  even  to 


126 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

you.  Kansas  will  be  shot  into  the  confederacy,  over  the 
heads  of  the  Free  States,  a  kind  of  free-slave  State  —  a 
mongrel  thing,  abnormal  and  un-godly  in  appearance.  Bu 
chanan  is  this  day  no  better  than  "  poor  Pierce."  His 
administration  crouches  at  the  tyrant  feet  of  the  slave- 
driver  and  whines  to  hear  the  word,  "  Go  bull."  This  is 
even  so,  and  no  man  who  reads,  thinks,  philosophizes  on 
history  and  nature,  can  help  seeing  the  "Red  Sea"  over 
which  our  people  must  pass.  It  is  terrible  to  think  about. 

Nature  will  have  her  equilibrium.  In  proportion  as  we 
become  civilized  North;  in  proportion  to  our  love  of  free 
dom  North,  just  in  the  same  degree  does  the  South  bar 
barize  and  hate  Liberty.  We  widen  and  deepen  in  our 
views;  the  line  of  separation  becomes  sharp  and  well-de 
fined,  and  out  of  this  come  hate  and  bloody  war.  Can 
anything  escape  this?  Nothing!  God  alone,  even  if  he 
desired  to  do  so,  cannot  turn  away  the  catastrophe.  His 
torians  in  the  future  will  simply  write,  "  Horror!  Hor 
ror!  ': 

Are  you  writing  anything  soon  to  be  published?  I 
hope  you  are ;  but  first  I  hope  you  are  entirely  well,  or  fast 
getting  so.  Hope  soon  to  hear  you  thunder.  Phillips  is 
climbing,  is  he  not  ?  Hurrah  for  Phillips ! 

Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

And  the  historian  of  today  does  marvel  that  a  people  so  homo 
geneous  and  so  happy,  so  wedded  in  historic  memories,  found 
no  better  way  of  getting  rid  of  African  slavery  than  by  going 
to  war  about  it.  He  marvels  that  a  people  so  prosperous  as 
the  people  of  the  South,  living  the  ideal  life  of  patrician  and 
planter,  should  have  so  mismeasured  the  forces  of  the  time 
and  the  movements  of  the  world.  Men  North  and  South  saw 
the  conflict  coming,  but  none  the  less  they  flung  wisdom  to  the 
winds,  as  at  a  later  hour  they  drew  their  swords  and  threw 
the  scabbards  away. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Revolt  of  Douglas 

After  all,  history  is  only  past  politics,  and  we  have  now  to  deal 
with  a  crisis  which  historians  of  this  period  too  often  slur 
over  in  their  haste  to  recite  the  story  of  the  great  debates. 
Those  burning  pictures  in  the  letters  to  Parker  were  as  much 
before  the  eyes  of  Lincoln  as  of  Herndon,  and  they  had 
drawn  from  him  that  radical  Bloomington  speech  in  which, 
for  the  first  time  in  public,  he  had  used  his  striking  figure 
of  the  house  divided  against  itself ;  though  at  the  request  of  a 
less  radical  friend,  Judge  Dickey,  he  had  promised  not  to 
repeat  it  during  the  contest  of  1856.  Time  had  more  than 
justified  his  words,  for  the  gulf  of  cleavage  was  becoming 
every  day  wider  and  more  angry;  but  just  when  the  hour 
had  fully  come  for  a  decisive  word,  he  was  appalled  by  the 
fact  of  schism  in  the  ranks  of  his  own  party. 

More  surprising  still,  as  if  planned  by  that  mocking  irony 
whereby  politics  makes  strange  yoke-fellows,  the  cause  of 
this  schism  was  none  other  than  Douglas  himself,  whose  fate 
it  was  to  be  "  the  Genius  of  Discord  "  incarnate.  Unable  to 
manage  two  horses  going  in  opposite  directions,  that  daring 
and  ambitious  rider  was  actually  trying  to  harness  a  Repub 
lican  steed  to  his  chariot  and  drive  to  victory.  That  he  did 
not  succeed  in  his  bold  and  desperate  attempt,  but  fell  at 
last  bruised  and  defeated  in  the  arena,  was  due  to  the  cour 
age,  sagacity,  and  unwavering  fidelity  of  the  Republican  party 
in  Illinois,  led  by  Lincoln  and  his  friends.  The  tale  of  this 
adventure  is  more  exciting  than  a  romance,  since  it  made 
Illinois  the  pivotal  State  in  the  North,  as  South  Carolina  may 
be  said  to  have  been  the  pivotal  State  in  the  South,  in  the 
contest  that  followed. 


128  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 


Once  more  Kansas  came  to  the  fore,  and  again  the  nation  was 
torn  by  angry  emotions,  while  an  honest,  but  timid  and  pli 
able  old  man  sat  in  the  White  House.  Emboldened  by  the 
Dred  Scott  decision,  the  leaders  of  the  South  resolved  afresh 
to  foist  slavery  upon  that  unhappy  Territory,  and  thus  add 
another  Slave  State  to  the  Union.  This  had  to  be  done,  if 
done  at  all,  against  the  will  of  the  people ;  for  by  this  time  the 
Free-State  men  so  vastly  outnumbered  the  slavery  contingent, 
that  even  the  pro-Slavery  party  had  to  admit  it.  So,  in  1857, 
the  Slavery  party  made  its  last  desperate  attempt  to  capture 
the  Territory  by  fraud,  and  the  folly  of  the  Free-State  men 
opened  the  way.  It  was  a  terrible  blunder,  with  consequences 
that  were  far-reaching  for  Kansas  and  for  the  nation. 

Two  years  before  Lincoln  had  predicted,  in  his  letter  to 
Joshua  Speed,  that  such  would  be  the  phase  of  the  Kansas 
question  when  it  became  a  practical  one,  and  his  prophecy 
had  come  true.  At  an  election  of  delegates  to  a  constitutional 
convention  the  Free-State  men,  very  unwisely,  refused  to 
vote,  on  the  ground  that  the  number  of  delegates  was  based 
on  a  defective  census  and  registration.  This  gave  the  con 
vention,  which  met  at  Lecompton,  wholly  into  the  hands  of 
the  pro-Slavery  party,  and  they  drew  the  constitution  as 
they  wanted  it.  When  the  instrument  was  offered  to  the 
people,  they  were  not  allowed  to  vote  simply  yea  or  nay,  but 
only  "  For  the  constitution  with  slavery,"  or  "  For  the  con 
stitution  with  no  slavery."  Either  way  the  constitution 
would  be  adopted,  and  should  the  constitution  with  no  slavery 
be  ratified,  a  clause  of  the  schedule  still  guaranteed  "  the 
right  of  property  in  slaves  now  in  this  Territory."  So  that 
the  choice  offered  to  an  opponent  of  slavery  was  between  a 
document  throwing  down  all  barriers  against  slavery,  and  a 
document  which  sanctioned  and  protected  the  full  possession 
of  slaves  in  the  Territory,  with  no  assurance  as  to  the  status 
of  the  natural  increase  of  those  slaves.  Again  the  Free-State 
men  refrained  from  voting,  and  a  few  more  than  six  thousand 
votes  were  declared  to  have  been  cast  "  For  the  constitution 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS 129 

with  slavery."  Over  one-third  of  the  votes  cast  were  proved 
to  be  fraudulent,  but  as  the  residue  still  exceeded  the  requisite 
majority  the  scheme  had  the  disguise  of  legal  technicality. 

Finding  themselves  tricked  by  a  gambler's  device,  the  Free- 
State  men  had  in  the  meantime  abandoned  their  policy  of  non- 
resistance,  so  far  at  least  as  to  take  part  in  the  election  of  a 
new  Territorial  Legislature.  They  had  also  decided  to  make 
an  irregular  opportunity  to  vote  for  or  against  the  constitu 
tion  ;  but  this  time  the  pro-Slavery  men,  considering  the  matter 
already  legally  settled,  refused  to  vote.  The  result  was  a 
majority  of  ten  thousand  against  the  constitution,  and  an 
equally  decided  majority  in  both  chambers  of  the  Legislature. 
The  President  had  solemnly  pledged  himself  to  accept  the 
result  of  the  popular  vote ;  but  now  he  was  confronted  by  two 
popular  votes,  one  having  the  better  technical  showing,  while 
the  other  undeniably  expressed  the  will  of  a  large  majority  of 
the  lawful  voters.  Such  was  the  posture  of  affairs  when 
Congress  convened. 

Douglas  had  made  himself  sponsor  for  justice  to  Kansas, 
not  only  by  his  advocacy  of  "popular  sovereignty"  in  the 
abstract,  but  by  the  fact  that  he  had  become  personally  re 
sponsible  for  the  conduct  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  the  leader  of  the 
Lecompton  party  —  having  secured  for  him,  through  Governor 
Walker,1  the  office  of  Surveyor  General  of  the  Territory.  He 
had  swallowed  the  Dred  Scott  decision  without  wincing,  de 
nouncing  all  who  questioned  its  righteousness  as  revolutionists, 
while  at  the  same  time  showing  how  it  might  be  thwarted  by 
unfriendly  local  legislation ;  but  the  Lecompton  outrage  nau 
seated  him,  and  he  let  it  be  known  to  his  friends  that  he  would 
oppose  the  admission  of  Kansas,  either  as  Free  or  Slave  State, 
on  a  constitution  adopted  by  such  methods.  Rumors  were 
afloat  that  the  Lecompton  scheme  was  approved  by  the  admin- 

i  Robert  J.  Walker,  former  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  a  Southern 
man  appointed  by  Mr.  Buchanan  and  endorsed  by  Douglas.  When 
Governor  Walker  was  on  his  way  to  Kansas  he  passed  through  Chicago, 
and  Senator  Douglas  consulted  him  about  submitting  the  constitution 
of  Kansas  to  a  fair  vote;  and  it  was  so  agreed.  —  Covode  Eeport,  pp, 
105-6.  Speech  of  Douglas  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  Oct.  14,  1860. 


130 


istration,  and  Douglas  hastened  to  Washington,  determined 
to  know  the  mind  of  the  President  at  once ;  his  own  was  made 
up.  Their  interview,  as  the  Senator  recounted  it,  was  dramatic 
indeed  when  he  found  that  Buchanan  was  under  the  spell  of 
a  group  of  Southern  men  who  were  bent  on  making  Kansas 
a  Slave  State  at  any  cost.  Whereat  Douglas  threw  down  the 
gauntlet,  announcing  with  great  earnestness  that  he  would 
fight  the  scheme  publicly  and  to  the  bitter  end. 

"Mr.  Douglas,"  said  the  President,  rising  to  his  feet  ex 
citedly,  "I  desire  you  to  remember  that  no  Democrat  ever 
yet  differed  from  an  administration  of  his  own  choice  with 
out  being  crushed.  Beware  of  the  fate  of  Tallmadge  and 
Rives!" 

"Mr.  President,"  rejoined  Douglas  also  rising,  "I  wish 
you  to  remember  that  General  Jackson  is  dead ! "  1 

Such  a  retort  —  contrasting  the  weakest  of  Presidents  with 
the  most  headstrong  —  was  all  the  more  stinging  when  we 
recall  that,  from  1852  to  1860,  Douglas  was  by  far  the  most 
noteworthy  figure  on  the  national  political  scene.  Webster, 
Clay,  and  Calhoun  had  passed  off  the  stage.  Seward,  Sum- 
ner,  and  Chase,  though  influential  and  able,  had  not  yet  come 
to  their  own.  This  interval  of  eight  years  belonged  to  Doug 
las,  and  it  was  neither  vanity  nor  vehemence  for  him  to  imagine 
that  he  could  defy  the  President.  We  have  also  to  remember 
that  he  and  Buchanan  had  been  rivals  for  the  same  high  office, 
the  latter  securing  it  partly  because,  as  Minister  to  England, 
he  had  not  been  involved  in  the  Nebraska  agitation,  and  partly 
because  he  was  less  aggressive  and  more  pliable.  Douglas, 
whatever  else  he  may  have  been,  was  not  of  that  stripe.  Astute 
and  ambitious,  he  was  at  once  masterful  and  persuasive,  a 
born  leader  of  men,  skilled  in  all  the  devious  arts  of  politics, 
and  an  orator  who  combined  "something  of  the  impressiveness 
of  Webster  with  the  roughness  and  readiness  of  the  stump 
speaker. ' '  •  His  break  with  the  President  meant  a  battle  royal 

1  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by   Allen  Johnson,   pp.   327-8    (1908).     Also, 
Milwaukee  speech  of  Senator   Douglas,    Oct.    14,    1860,   Chicago    Times 
and  Herald,  Oct.  17,  1860. 

2  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  J.  T.  Morse,  Vol.  I,  p.  106  (1896). 


THE  BEYOLT  OF  DOUGLAS 131 

to  the  last  ditch,  for  never  was  there  a  more  resourceful  or  a 
more  plucky  fighter. 

On  the  evening  of  December  9th,  Douglas  backed  up  his 
threat  by  a  speech  in  the  Senate,  and  so  eager  was  the  desire 
to  hear  him,  that,  from  the  time  the  Senate  adjourned  in  the 
afternoon,  until  it  re-assembled  in  the  evening,  the  people  kept 
their  seats.  For  three  hours  he  held  his  audience  in  rapt  at 
tention,  broken  only  by  peals  of  applause,  while  with  more 
than  his  usual  gravity  and  earnestness  he  denounced  the  Le- 
compton  fraud,  appealed  for  fair  play,  and  flayed  the  President 
for  attempting  to  dictate  the  duties  of  a  Senator.  His  sense  of 
justice  was  too  deeply  outraged  for  him  to  remain  in  a  con 
ciliatory  mood,  and  at  times  his  vehemence  carried  him  further 
than  he  had  meant  to  go.  He  compared  the  Kansas  election 
to  that  held  under  the  First  Consul,  when,  so  his  enemies 
averred,  Napoleon  addressed  his  troops  after  this  fashion: 
"Now,  my  soldiers,  you  are  to  go  to  the  election  and  vote  freely 
just  as  you  please.  If  you  vote  for  Napoleon,  all  is  well ;  vote 
against  him,  and  you  are  to  be  instantly  shot ! ' '  That  was  a 
fair  election ! 

This  election,  said  Douglas  with  bitter  irony,  is  to  be  equally 
fair !  All  men  in  favor  of  the  constitution  may  vote  for  it 
—  all  men  against  it  shall  not  vote  at  all!  Why  not  let 
them  vote  against  it?  ...  Consult  the  poll  books  on  a  fair 
election  held  in  pursuance  of  law;  consult  private  citizens 
from  there;  consult  whatever  source  of  information  you 
please,  and  you  get  the  same  answer  —  that  this  constitu 
tion  does  not  embody  the  will,  is  not  the  act  and  deed  of  the 
people,  does  not  represent  their  wishes;  and  hence,  I  deny 
your  right,  your  authority,  to  make  it  their  organic  law.  .  .  . 
Will  you  force  it  on  them  against  their  will  simply  because 
they  would  have  voted  it  down  if  you  had  consulted  them  ? 
If  you  will,  are  you  going  to  force  it  upon  them  under  the 
plea  of  leaving  them  perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate 
their  own  domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way?  Is  that 
the  mode  in  which  I  am  called  upon  to  carry  out  the  prin 
ciple  of  self-government  and  popular  sovereignty  in  the  Ter 
ritories  ?  ...  If  Kansas  wants  a  Slave  constitution  she  has  a 
right  to  it,  if  she  wants  a  Free-State  constitution  she  has  a 


132 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

right  to  it.     It  is  none  of  my  business  which  way  the  slavery 
clause  is  decided.     I  care  not  whether  it  is  voted  up  or  down. 

Lincoln,  in  his  back  office,  made  note  of  this  last  sentence  for 
future  reference ;  and  he  thereby  put  his  pen  upon  the  fatal 
flaw  in  the  career  of  Senator  Douglas.  All  during  this  heroic 
fight  for  the  freedom  of  Kansas  Douglas  declared  that,  had  the 
people  of  that  Territory  decided  in  favor  of  slavery,  he  would 
just  as  earnestly  and  persistently  fight  against  the  Free-Soilers 
for  the  admission  of  the  Territory  as  a  Slave  State.  To  the 
question  of  the  right  and  wrong  'of  slavery,  so  far  as  this  con 
troversy  was  concerned,  he  was  entirely  indifferent.  Unfor 
tunately  he  remained  indifferent,  as  though  utterly  blind  to  the 
moral  issue  involved  in  the  very  existence  of  slavery.  None 
the  less  he  did  fight,  consistently  and  magnificently,  for  the 
rights  of  the  Free-State  men  of  Kansas,  many  of  whom  were 
Douglas  Democrats,  and  the  Lecompton  constitution  was  buried 
out  of  sight.  It  is  true,  as  Lincoln  afterwards  said,  that  the 
Eepublicans  in  Congress  gave  most  of  the  votes  necessary  to 
defeat  it;  yet  it  is  also  true  that  but  for  Douglas  the  infamy 
would  not  have  been  defeated.1  His  victory  over  Buchanan  was 
decisive,  extending  even  to  the  parlors  of  social  rivalry,  where 
the  gracious  and  brilliant  Adele  Douglas  out-shone  the  hand 
some  but  somewhat  reserved  niece  of  the  President,  who  served 
as  "first  lady  of  the  land"  for  her  bachelor  uncle.2 

Nevertheless,  there  were  those  who  saw  not  the  faintest  gleam 
of  high,  disinterested  motive  in  the  audacious  revolt  of  the  Sen 
ator  from  Illinois.  Men  like  Lincoln,  Herndon,  and  Gustave 
Koerner,  who  had  known  Douglas  for  years,  saw  in  his  action 
only  the  first  move  in  some  far-reaching  political  game,  the  exact 
nature  of  which  they  did  not  at  first  divine.  Herndon,  writing 
to  Parker  after  a  long  silence,  gave  his  view  of  the  situation, 
which  may  be  taken  as  representing  Lincoln's  view  of  it ;  for  he 
was  closer  to  the  mind  of  Lincoln  than  any  other  man,  and  could 
report  him,  not  always  correctly,  yet  with  much  shrewdness  and 
intution : 


1  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Clark  E.  Carr,  pp.  62-74  (1909). 

2  Reminiscences  of  Peace  and  War,  by  Mrs.  Eoger  Pryor,  Chap.  IV. 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      133 

Springfield,  111.,  December  19,  1857. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  It  has  been  a  long  time  since  I  addressed  you 
a  letter,  and  supposing  you  are  rested  I  propose  to  slip  a  word 
to  you.  These  are  curious,  mysterious  days.  What  do  you 
think  of  Douglas's  late  strike  from  his  masters?  We  out 
here  have  this  view:  He,  Douglas,  is  U.  S.  Senator,  and 
still  wants  to  be.  If  he  go  the  Lecompton  swindle  he  is  dead 
in  Illinois ;  and  being  defeated  here,  and  for  that  office,  he  is 
dead  everywhere,  North  and  South;  it  is  a  test  for  the 
future.  However,  if  he  "bulges"  against  the  Lecompton 
fraud,  he  is  at  all  events  gone  in  the  South.  Hope  springs 
up  and  comes  to  his  despair.  He  says  this : 

"I  see  my  way  clear.  The  North  has  got  the  majority 
in  the  electoral  college,  and  if  I  oppose  this  despotism  and 
strike  as  a  man,  good,  brave  and  true,  I  can  get  the  solid 
North.  By  doing  this  my  first  expectation  is  that  I  can  get 
back  in  the  Senate,  and  in  the  meantime  I  will  go  gradually 
towards  Republicanism,  and  finally  deeper.  That  won't  do 
right  now.  I  know  the  law  of  the  gradual  development  of 
ideas.  Before  1860  Kansas,  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  Oregon, 
Washington,  and  probably  more  States  will  have  to  come  into 
this  confederacy,  and  these  will  give  such  an  overwhelming 
majority  to  the  North,  that  it  can  beat  the  South.  I  am  for 
Freedom,  Liberty!  Mr.  Parker  or  Wendell  Phillips  wor 
ships  no  more  sincerely  or  intensely  at  the  shrine  of  Liberty 
than  I.  Hurrah  for  Liberty !  It  is  eternal ;  an  attribute  of 
God  given  to  man  as  an  inalienable  right !  Blessed  day,  I 
am  safe !  Glory ! ' ' 

I  have  no  doubt  but  that  this  is  the  Senator 's  reason  — 
none  in  the  world.  But  the  question  is,  will  he,  "like  a 
man, ' '  face  the  music,  and  so  keep  faced  ?  There  is  the  rub. 
I  have  no  confidence  in  him  morally,  mentally,  politically,  or 
otherwise.  His  friends  here  do  not  know  how  to  look  upon 
this  change.  However,  they  say  this:  "Republicanism 
always  before  Southern  tyranny;  the  South  is  nothing  but 
a  despotism."  They  do  this  with  great  energy  and  em 
phasis.  And  thank  the  bright  stars  for  so  much!  Buch 
anan  has  numerous  friends  here;  Douglas  has  more.  The 
war  between  them  is  fierce,  fiery,  full  of  hate.  Douglas  will 
not  reap  any  advantage  from  this  move,  though  Freedom 
will.  Mark  that.  The  Buchanan  faction  here  will  kill  him 
for  the  Senatorial  seat.  He  has  slipped,  I  think :  it  is  too 
much  now  to  say  this  will  be  so.  There  are  not  facts  enough 
out  yet  to  declare  this  is  and  must  be  so ;  it  looks  that  way. 


LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 


My  notion  of  this  move,  if  not  a  base  trick,  is  this  :  Doug 
las  will  be  a  ranting  Free-State  's  man  —  hot  and  angrily  so. 
There  are  but  two  sides.  If  he  breaks  loose  from  the  South, 
he  must  become  Republican,  or  go  deeper  and  eclipse  Phil 
lips.  Tell  Mr.  Phillips  to  guard  his  laurels:  say  to  him 
that  his  friend  Herndon  says,  "Phillips,  you  have  a  com 
petitor  in  the  field."  Be  not  surprised  at  what  Douglas 
does  —  either  one  way  or  the  other.  Douglas  speaks  glibly, 
already,  of  the  '  '  fundamental  principles  of  Liberty.  '  '  Watch 
the  blazing  comet.  There  will  be  many  foul  disclosures  in 
this  fight.  They  will  tell  each  other  of  treachery  —  of  each 
other  's  rascality  :  they  will  taunt  each  other,  and  the  age  and 
freedom  will  profit  by  the  quarrel.  Robbers  have  fallen  out 
over  the  distribution  of  their  bloody  booty.  The  quarrel 
will  be  long  and  bitter,  wild  and  ferocious.  Let  honest  men 
look  on,  and  laugh  or  weep,  as  suits  their  respective  natures. 
I  shall  mourn,  yet  rejoice. 

The  South  will  "snub"  Douglas,  and  to  defend  or  re 
venge  himself  he  will  fight  back,  and  in  doing  so  he  must  feel 
around  for  "clubs."  The  only  clubs  are,  first,  Republican 
ones  ;  and,  second,  strong  Abolition  ones  :  the  first  are  com 
posed  simply  of  policy,  the  second  of  world-wide  truths  — 
eternal  as  world-wide.  Look  out  !  If  Douglas  is  fighting 
for  revenge  its  laws  will  keep  him  destructive,  and  so  look 
out  !  It  is  not  virtue  that  moves  him.  If  this  move  of 
Douglas  is  simply  one  of  revenge,  I  do  not  know  what  to  say. 
Too  soon  to  say  absolutely  this  or  that.  I  think,  however, 
that  the  first  part  of  this  letter  is  the  only  correct  view  of 
things,  so  far  as  they  are  developed.  Our  June  and  July 
fight  here  with  Douglas  has  opened  his  eyes.  Do  you  re 
member  that  his  Times  said  that  the  "Lecompton  constitu 
tion  might  as  well  be  submitted  to  the  Feegee  tribes  as  to 
the  people  of  Kansas?"  What  is  your  opinion  of  things? 
How  do  the  Massachusetts  men  look  upon  this  '  '  squabble  ?  '  ' 
Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Give  Mr.  Phillips  my  best  respects,  not  forgetting  your 
wife.  Show  this  letter  to  any  person  who  wants  to  know 
how  we  feel  out  West. 

Only  three  Democratic  Senators  dared  to  stand  with  Douglas 
—  Broderick  of  California,  Pugh  of  Ohio,  and  Stuart  of  Mich 
igan  —  as  against  the  solid  phalanx  of  his  party.  Green,  Big- 
ler,  and  Fitch  in  turn  assailed  him  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate, 
trying  to  read  him  out  of  the  party  into  the  ranks  of  the  '  '  Black 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      135 

Republicans."  These  attacks  only  roused  Douglas  to  more 
bitter  invective  against  the  Lecorapton  scheme  as  "a  trick,  a 
fraud  upon  the  rights  of  the  people."  If  he  had  misjudged 
the  temper  of  his  party  in  the  Senate,  he  had  at  least  read 
aright  the  drift  of  public  sentiment  in  Illinois,  for,  of  the 
fifty-six  Democratic  papers  in  the  State,  only  one  ventured  to 
condone  the  Lecompton  outrage.  Writing  one  week  later, 
Herndon  continued  his  prognostication,  astutely  divining  the 
drift  of  Douglas  towards  the  Republican  ranks : 

Springfield,  111.,  December  26, 1857. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  wrote  you  some  few  days  since,  and  hope 
you  will  take  it  easy  till  I  give  you  my  speculations  and  the 
ideas  of  others,  in  the  home  of  Douglas  and  in  reference  to 
him  and  his  course.  It  will  be  here  that  his  intentions  will 
leak  out,  or  be  made  known  before  they  are  blurted  wild  and 
free  in  Washington.  I  have  some  warm  personal  friends 
in  the  Democratic  camp,  and  some  kindred  there.  So  I 
watch  things  closely.  It  is  said  here  that  Douglas  intends 
to  stand  firm  on  this  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill ;  but  those  who 
say  so  know  nothing  about  the  wiry,  deep,  sagacious  schemer. 
Whoso  stands  on  this  Kansas  squatter  sovereignty,  expect 
ing  thereby  to  appease  the  North  or  South,  will  fall  between 
the  ' '  upper  and  nether  mill-stones  "  to  be  ground  to  powder. 
Douglas  is  sagacious  —  is  not  a  martyr,  nor  has  he  an  idea 
of  being  one.  Were  he  Phillips  or  yourself  it  might  be  so ; 
it  would  be  the  same,  if  he  were  Garrison ;  but  there  is  no 
martyr  in  the  flesh  of  Douglas.  If  he  supposes  that  he  can 
say,  "the  fundamental  principles  of  Liberty,"  and  insinuate 
the  justice  of  rebellion  and  revolution  in  Kansas  by  the  peo 
ple,  as  he  did  say  and  insinuate  lately,  openly  in  the  halls 
of  Congress,  and  still  expect  to  appease  the  South ;  if,  I  say, 
he  thinks  this,  I  will  write  Douglas  down  as  an  "  ass. ' '  He 
is  not,  however.  He  is  sagacious,  energetic,  "wicked,"  as 
you  say,  and  he  looks  and  will  eternally  leap  for  power. 
Its  laws  will  control  him,  as  justice  Garrison,  or  truth  Phil 
lips,  or  religion  you. 

Douglas  must  sweep  the  field  I  pointed  out  to  you  sooner 
or  later  —  say  1860  or  1864.  He  may  not  move  in  a  perfect 
elliptic;  there  will  be  some  perturbations  behind  that  red 
infamy,  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill ;  yet  the  ends  of  the  circle 
will  meet.  So  says  nature ;  for  her  mental  laws  are  as  uni- 


136 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

versal  and  necessary  as  the  laws  of  the  physical  world. 
Douglas  is  this  day  Republican  in  heart  and  head,  though 
not  from  honest,  deep,  manly  convictions;  he  is  so  because 
power  lies  there,  in  the  North,  and  where  power  is  there  is 
the  political  buzzard.  Some  say  that  he  will  force  Buchanan 
and  his  cabinet  to  swallow  his  present  interpretation  of  the 
Kansas  fraud.  What!  Do  they  suppose  that  this  is  not 
defeat  to  the  South,  and  defeat  to  the  South  forever  f  Does 
any  sane  man  suppose  that  the  South  will  give  up  this  great 
crisis  without  a  struggle,  to  rot  and  to  die  inch  by  inch, 
stinking  in  the  nostrils  of  the  nations?  Those  who  think 
so  ought  to  have  ' '  fool ' '  branded  on  their  paws. 

Mr.  Douglas  will  in  due  time  become  a  Republican  and 
attempt  to  lead  our  forces,  and  I  may  have  to  vote  for  the 
wretch.  I  will  do  so  to  kill  a  worse  thing  —  slavery.  This, 
Douglas  will  do  by  continuous,  gradual  slides,  and  such  a 
sliding  scale  the  world  never  saw.  This  is  his  present  inten 
tion,  or  he  sinks  into  that  gulf  where  the  nations  can  never 
hear  his  howl ;  and  from  the  depths  of  which  the  whisperings 
of  his  conscience  will  scarcely  ever  reach  the  throne  of  God. 
He  must  go  South  or  come  North,  radically.  He  sees  and 
knows  where  he  is :  he  understands  his  position  and  its  dan 
ger  well.  He  has  studied  the  alternatives  "piously."  It 
may  be  true  that  this  will  take  place :  either  Douglas  must 
come  to  Republicans,  or  the  Republicans  must  go  to  Douglas. 
No  doubt  but  that  Douglas  will  try  to  draw  us  to  his  support ; 
but  this  will  never  be.  When  Douglas  sees  this  he  will  be 
ready  to  take  the  leap  with  a  sonorous  shout,  "Hurrah  for 
Liberty!"  Won't  that  be  odd?  All  these  late  moves  are 
compliments  to  human  rights,  to  man's  freedom  and  God's 
eternal  justice.  God  speed  their  quick  evolution  and  devel 
opment  ! 

I  notice  in  the  winds  several  good  signs  "round  here," 
and  all  about  us.  Democrats  come  to  us  and  borrow  Seward  's 
speeches,  Sumner's,  your  Nebraska  speech,  Chase's,  etc.; 
and  they  read  them  and  shout  for  Liberty  as  I  did,  when  I 
was  called  "crazy."  The  world  does  move. 

Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Excuse  me,  forgive  my  two  long  letters.  Show  to  friends 
if  you  wish.  Tell  Phillips  to  sit  right  down  and  get  out  his 
speeches  —  now  is  the  time. 

No  doubt  Lincoln,  with  his  keen  eye  for  the  logic  of  events,  saw 
the  situation  even  more  clearly  than  his  partner ;  but  he  said 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      137 

little,  while  watching  intently  to  see  whither  Douglas  was  tend 
ing.  The  two  letters  of  Herndon  were  indeed  remarkable  as 
forecasts  of  the  immediate  future,  though  surely  they  were 
unjust  in  attributing  every  move  of  Douglas  to  motives  utterly 
selfish  and  sordid.  Yet  such  was  the  view  of  Mr.  Parker,  who 
in  his  reply  arraigned  Douglas  more  severely,  if  possible,  than 
Herndon  had  done,  while  at  the  same  time  reporting  the  out 
look  from  his  watch-tower  in  the  East : 

Boston,  Mass.,  Dec.  31,  1857. 
Hon.  W.  H.  Herndon. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  thank  you  for  your  two  valuable  and  in 
structive  letters.  It  is  a  strange  state  of  things  now,  but 
quite  encouraging.  Look  at  some  facts: 

I.  The  South  has  determined  on  two  things  to  be  done 
immediately:     (1)     To  make  Kansas  a  Slave  State.     (2) 
To  capture  and  "re-annex"  Nicaragua. 

II.  The  North  on  the  whole  is  determined  that  Kansas 
shall  not  thus  be  made  a  Slave  State  —  but  a  considerable 
party  yet  hopes  it  will  be,  they  care  not  how.     This  party 
consists  of  two  divisions:     (1)     Partisan  Democrats  who 
hold  office  or  seek  for  it ;  (2)  Old  Whigs  and  Know-Nothings 
who  care  only  for  money.     But  these  two  are  in  a  minority. 
In  Boston  they  are  represented  by  the  federal  officers  and 
such  men  as  Everett,  Winthrop,  Choate,  and  the  like.     The 
great  bulk  of  the  people  are  opposed  to  slavery  in  Kansas, 
always  excepting  the  Irish  —  they  are  by  instinct  friendly 
to  slavery.     This  comes  partly  from  their  nature,  partly 
also  from  their  position  at  home,  which  has  so  degraded 
the  poor  wretches,  and  partly  from  the  conduct  of  their 
priests  who  follow  the  logic  of  their  institution  and  defend 
slavery. 

I  don't  think  the  North  is  much  opposed  to  the  conquest 
of  Nicaragua,  and  the  rest  of  mankind.  The  strong  passion 
of  the  Saxon  is  —  lust  for  land.  It  is  so  with  the  British 
Saxon,  so  with  the  American.  It  was  so  a  thousand  years 
ago.  The  blood  of  the  old  filibusters,  the  Danes  and  Nor 
mans,  is  yet  in  the  people.  But  the  Northern  men  think 
it  may  be  dangerous  to  conquer  such  a  territory.  They 
know  it  is  wrong  to  invade  a  people  who  do  us  no  harm.  So 
they  moderately  oppose  Walker  and  his  troop. 

III.  The  President  is  an  old  man,  a  man  of  feeble  will, 
of  no  ideas  —  vacillating  in  his  measures,  but  firm  in  one 


138  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

principle  —  to  take  care  of  James  Buchanan.  But  he  was 
chosen  by  the  South,  at  the  command  of  the  South;  on  a 
platform  of  the  South  he  was  sworn  into  office.  He  will 
therefore  be  forced  to  yield  to  the  logic  of  Southern  ideas. 
There  is  a  manifest  destiny  in  that  which  no  will  could 
escape.  But  he  wishes  to  keep  all  the  party  together;  to 
attempt  in  words  to  conciliate  the  North  while  in  deeds  he 
obeys  his  stern  masters  at  the  South.  Hence  his  vacilla 
tion  in  regard  to  Walker  and  Kansas,  to  Nicaragua,  to  the 
great  financial  question. 

Now  as  the  Northern  institutions  and  the  Southern  are 
founded  on  ideas  exactly  opposite  and  antagonistic,  and  as 
the  logic  thereof  impels  the  people  in  opposite  directions,  it 
is  plain  that  one  of  three  things  must  happen:  (1)  The 
South  may  conquer  the  North;  (2)  The  North  may  conquer 
the  South;  (3)  The  two  may  separate  without  a  fight.  I 
need  not  say  which  is  likely  to  happen. 

Douglas  finds  his  term  is  nearly  out  in  the  Senate;  he 
knows  we  will  not  be  re-elected  if  he  continues  facing  to  the 
South.  If  he  fails  of  the  Senatorship  in  '59  he  fails  of  the 
Presidency  in  1860  or  1864.  He  is  ambitious,  unprinci 
pled,  coarse,  vulgar,  but  strong  in  the  qualities  which  make  a 
' '  democratic ' '  leader.  He  has  served  the  South  all  along,  but 
the  South  would  not  pay  him  with  the  nomination  in  1856. 
He  seeks  his  revenge  on  its  nominee,  and  on  the  South  itself 
—  while  he  shall  advance  his  own  interest.  So  he  opposes 
the  attempt  to  force  slavery  on  Kansas.  He  claims  that  he 
does  this  in  consistency  with  his  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  and 
his  doctrine  of  squatter  sovereignty.  But  he  is  more  incon 
sistent  than  it  appears  at  first.  For  not  only  did  he  (1) 
favor  Toombs's  Bill,  but  (2)  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  with 
its  squatter  sovereignty  was  not  a  principle  of  his  political 
philosophy  —  but  only  a  measure  of  his  political  aim  to 
move  the  South  for  his  own  advancement.  So  he  is  now  not 
only  obviously  inconsistent  with  his  special  support  of 
Toombs's  Bill,  but  secretly  and  profoundly  inconsistent  with 
his  whole  course  of  action  and  uniform  adhesion  to  the 
South,  and  his  perpetual  mock  at  freedom  and  its  supporters. 

He  is  a  mad-dog  who  has  grown  fat  by  devouring  our 
sheep.  He  was  trained  to  that  business  —  this  bloodhound 
of  the  South.  But  as  his  master  has  not  fed  him  as  he 
hoped,  he  turns  round  and  barks  at  those  whom  he  once 
obeyed  whenever  they  whistled  for  him  and  bit  whomsoever 
they  told  him  to  seize.  I  have  no  more  faith  in  him  now 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      139 

than  two  years  ago.  But  he  is  biting  our  enemies.  "Dog 
eat  dog, ' '  says  the  Turk ;  ' '  Dog  eat  wolf, "  say  I,  "  bite  'em, 
take  hold  on  'em,  stibboy ! ' ' 

Here  is  his  plan  of  action.  He  sees  the  South  is  deter 
mined  on  putting  slavery  in  Kansas.  He  sees  it  can't  be 
done,  but  if  the  Democratic  party  insists  on  the  Southern 
measures  it  will  be  in  1860  where  the  Whigs  were  in  1856. 
In  all  the  Northern  States  it  will  be  routed  and  cut  to  pieces. 
He  won't  connect  himself  with  the  Southern  effort.  He 
won't  run  for  President  in  1860.  He  has  told  Walker,  "I 
shan't  be  in  your  way  in  1860."  For  he  foresees  the  defeat 
of  the  Democrats  at  that  time ;  their  rally  about  another 
platform,  under  another  flag,  and  with  different  leaders  in 
1864.  He  hopes  for  his  own  triumph  then  —  his  own  elec 
tion.  He  contemplated  this  in  1855-6.  Don't  you  remem 
ber  "Senator  Douglas  had  a  bad  sore  throat"  and  could  not 
attend  the  sessions  of  the  Senate  in  December,  '55,  January, 
'56,  but  in  February  got  better?  I  wait  now  to  see  what 
he  will  say  to  the  administration's  treatment  of  Paulding. 
Yours  truly,  THEO.  PARKER. 

Anxiously  the  two  men  watched  the  political  "dog-fight"  be 
tween  Douglas  and  Buchanan,  hoping  for  a  disruption  in  the 
Democratic  party,  yet  distrusting  Douglas  while  unable  to 
forecast  his  course.  The  fight  was  fierce  and  bitter  and  even 
bystanders  were  not  safe,  for  no  one  could  tell  what  club 
Douglas  might  use.  Herndon  found  time  for  only  a  brief 
reply : 

Springfield,  111.,  Jan.  8,  1858. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  This  letter  of  yours  is  longer  than  usual, 
and,  therefore,  to  me  more  satisfactory,  though  I  always 
feel  grateful  for  any, ' '  long  or  short. ' '  Since  I  wrote  to  you 
this  Walker  difficulty  has  happened,  and  it  may  alter  the 
circumstances.  Douglas  is  a  very  curious  and  exceedingly 
corrupt  man,  and  no  man  can  tell  exactly  where  he  is  or 
will  be.  Your  letter  contains  some  facts  and  the  balance 
tendencies  and  philosophy,  to  which  I  assent  with  all  my 
heart.  I  am  obliged  to  you  for  your  two  speeches  on  "The 
Great  Battle."  Please  accept  my  thanks.  What  I  write 
to  you  is  always  written  in  my  office  amid  bluster,  confusion 
and  "malicious  queries;"  and  you  must  therefore  look  over 
imperfections  and  mistakes.  You  know  a  country  law  office, 


140 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

and  if  you  do  not,  just  step  into  ours  some  day  and  see  for 
yourself.  Though  I  do  not  like  Douglas,  though  I  despise 
his  character,  though  I  detest  the  gambling  politician,  still 
I,  too,  say  to  him,  ' '  Seize  'em,  bite  'em,  choke  'em ;  it  is  dog 
eat  dog!"  Does  it  not  seem  that  Douglas,  in  this  Walker 
matter,  is  moved  purely  by  spite  to  Buchanan?  Is  it  not 
revenge  ?  Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

II 

All  eyes  were  turned  to  the  Senate,  where  the  "Little  Giant" 
was  fighting  for  his  life,  by  turns  threatened  and  eulogized  in 
public  while  his  foes  within  his  own  party  were  stabbing  him 
in  the  back  in  private.  Every  kind  of  pressure  was  brought 
to  bear  upon  him  to  lay  down  arms.  The  party  press,  led  by 
the  Washington  Union,  held  him  up  to  execration  as  a  traitor, 
a  renegade,  and  a  deserter.  With  matchless  scorn  the  Rich 
mond  South  spoke  of  him  as  a  man  of  rude  and  vulgar  origin, 
who,  by  association  with  Southern  gentlemen,  had  become  quite 
a  decent  and  well-behaved  person.  The  whole  machinery  of 
executive  patronage  was  turned  against  him,  and  his  friends 
were  turned  out  of  office.  What  this  meant  in  Illinois  Hern- 
don  described  in  his  next  letter  —  written,  it  should  be  remem 
bered,  at  the  very  time  when  John  Brown  was  revealing  to 
Gerritt  Smith  and  to  Theodore  Parker  his  desperate  plans  for 
attacking  slavery  by  force.  Here,  at  the  very  ear  of  Lin 
coln,  was  a  man,  Kentucky  bred,  like  Lincoln  himself,  and 
taught  to  look  down  on  the  negro  as  something  below  human 
ity,  yet  breathing  a  spirit  akin  to  that  of  Brown : 

Springfield,  111.,  Feb.  20,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  When  I  wrote  to  you  last  I  was  then  just 
going  into  our  Supreme  Court,  and  had  no  time  to  answer 
your  letter  more  at  length.  Doubtless  you  remember  that 
I  said  I  agreed  to  what  was  in  your  letter.  I  did  so  and 
do  yet,  still  I  see  nothing  in  it  to  make  me  alter  my  opinions 
concerning  Douglas,  or  his  flexible  moves.  Everything  that 
has  happened  in  Congress  and  out,  since  I  wrote  to  you, 
confirms  what  I  said.  I  stood  upon  the  law  that  governs 
man,  and  judged  all  from  that  standpoint.  The  filibuster- 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      141 

ing  moves  are  gone  for  the  present ;  the  Paulding  affair  is 
settled,  too,  for  the  present.  The  blood  of  "the  old  filibus 
ters,"  however,  is  in  our  people  yet,  and  sooner  or  later  it 
will  break  out  on  the  face  of  the  nation,  sickening  the  whole 
frame  and  sacrificing  the  ruddy  cheeks  of  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
Though  all  this  is  very  true,  see  where  Douglas  is:  he  is 
whipped;  he  is  evidently  cowed;  and  looks  up  from  his 
degraded  condition  with  a  kind  of  hell-gathered  malignity. 
Thank  God  for  so  much ! 

President  Buchanan  is  removing  the  officers  in  this  State : 
the  guillotine  works  well  and  fast  and  sharp.  I  say,  ' '  Cut 
off  their  heads  —  gut  them  —  throw  them  to  the  dogs ;  give 
them  to  the  crows ! "  Buck  will  create  a  party  here,  and  the 
fight  will  be  bitter-hot  between  Buck's  men  and  Douglas's 
worshipers.  I  have  a  poor  brother  now  in  Washington 
hunting.  While  he  is  going  fast  one  way  I  am  going  as  fast 
the  other,  and  so  the  world  moves.  If  the  administration 
forces  the  Lecompton  constitution  on  those  free  people,  1 
am  for  war.  I  am  this  day  ready  to  cut  out  the  cause  of  all 
our  troubles.  The  more  I  think  of  this  question  and  the 
more  I  know  of  Phillips 's  and  your  position  the  more  I  am 
convinced  that  this  people  will  have  to  meet  this  issue  on 
the  only  field  you  point  out.  It  must  come  at  last;  there 
is  no  escape  from  it.  It  is  the  law  of  human  progress ;  your 
paths  are  the  paths  on  which  this  progress  is  to  be  made.  I 
am  for  burning  out  the  cause  of  the  evil  —  I  am  for  cutting 
out  the  nigger,  and  as  I  now  see  it,  it  is  self  defense  for  the 
white  man.  Harris,  from  this  district,  whom  I  frequently 
met  on  the  stump  in  1856,  takes  the  same  view.  He  laughed 
at  me  at  his  home,  in  Petersburg,  over  my  ideas.  Now  he 
has  caught  them.  He  sees  that  the  cause  must  be  eradicated 
before  the  white  men  are  safe.  If  the  Lecompton  consti 
tution  is  forced  down  our  people,  the  door  everywhere  will 
be  thrown  wide  open  for  Garrison,  Phillips,  yourself,  and 
others.  This  will  be  a  Godsend. 

I  now  see  that  there  is  no  freedom  —  true,  genuine  Lib 
erty  —  anywhere  in  this  broad  Union.  There  is  no  State 
Sovereignty  in  the  Confederacy,  and  the  only  way  to  right 
ourselves  is  through  bloody  Revolution.  The  quicker  we 
get  to  this  point  the  better  for  all.  This  is  no  flash-in-the- 
pan  idea,  but  one  long  struggled  against,  and  loathed,  hated 
and  detested.  If  you  know  me  well  you  know  that  this  is 
really  my  opinion  and  for  which  I  am  ready  to  sacrifice  life, 
everything  but  honor.  I  once  scorned  men  who  thought  so. 
Man  will  develop,  and  civilization  will  spread;  it  is  his 


142 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

destiny  written  by  the  finger  of  God  on  the  spirit- surf  ace 
of  man;  and  in  proportion  to  our  individual  development, 
and  the  spread  of  civilization,  its  result,  man  must  rise,  and 
thus  must  see  and  hate  the  very  wrongs  which  before  he 
worshiped.  This  is  the  law:  God  says  to  man,  "This  way 
my  good  children  —  there  is  no  other:"  and  that  way  we 
will  go  though  through  glittering  steel  and  crackling  fire. 
But  man's  destiny  shall  not  perish  —  no,  never. 

Your  letter  is  well  and  inimitably  put;  there  is  no  eva 
sion  of  the  antecedents  or  the  sequents.  Men  and  parties 
are  as  you  describe  them.  The  poor  miserable  Irish  are  the 
instruments  of  our  cowardly  tyrants.  Poor  fools.  Such 
men  as  Everett,  Choate,  Winthrop  are  more  dangerous  to 
progress  —  to  true  Liberty  —  than  the  open  brawling  Irish 
man.  They  listlessly  sit  down  when  they  have  the  power  to 
do  good,  and  say  nothing  for  the  encouragement  of  mankind. 
This  is  practical  atheism.  They  may  pretend  to  worship 
God,  but  such  a  God!  Oh,  good  God!  Once  I  loved  all 
these  men,  but  now  I  have  no  words  to  express  my  disregard 
for  them. 

It  may  be  true  that  so  soon  as  the  Kansas-Lecompton 
issue  is  passed,  and  Kansas  is  in  the  Union  as  a  Slave  State, 
that  the  Southern  men  will  cast  their  filibustering  eyes 
southward.  It  is  quite  likely  that  this  will  be  so.  I  "  guess ' ' 
Central  America  is  doomed:  then  comes  Cuba:  then  more 
Slave  States :  and  then,  —  what  ?  Good  God !  Are  these 
people  ever  to  be  waked,  fired,  educated  to  the  fighting 
point  ?  That  man  or  set  of  men  who  disregards  any  human 
being's  rights,  black  or  white,  will  take  away  all  other  men's 
rights  when  the  exigencies  seem  to  demand  it.  This  is  the 
law,  and  this  people  had  better  learn  that  law  quickly  and 
well.  It  does  strike  me  that  our  people  ought  to  see  that 
the  issue  is  this :  ' '  Shall  we  have  no  slavery  or  shall  it  be 
universal,  including  white  as  well  as  black?" 

You  have  well  said  that  the  two,  slavery  and  freedom,  are 
at  the  opposite  ends  of  the  human  poles :  that  they  are  un 
dying  and  eternal  antagonists;  that  they  lead  ideas,  and 
consequently  human  actions,  up  to  heaven  or  down  to  hell ; 
and  that  this  antagonism  is  deeply  radicated,  eternally  plant 
ed  in  the  natures  of  the  two ;  if  this  is  so  —  which  no  thinking 
man  can  deny  —  then  this  follows :  eternal,  bloody,  unquail- 
ing  war.  Death  to  the  one  or  the  other  is  inevitable.  I 
know  which  it  will  be,  but  I  do  not  like  bloody  revolutions. 
I  love  peace.  My  whole  nature  whispers  peace,  but  at  the 
same  time  it  says,  "Peace  with  justice." 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      143 

You  need  not  tell  me  your  opinion  of  the  final  result  of 
things  in  America.  I  know  without  your  telling  me.  I 
gather  it  by  instinct  —  by  brute-sagacity.  I  remember  one 
of  your  sermons  very  well  in  which  you  say  you  cannot  afford 
to  tell  Bostonians  the  result  of  things :  that  they  could  not 
bear  it. 

You  ask  me  if  I  do  not  remember  that  Senator  Douglas 
did  not  go  into  the  Senate  in  1855-6.  I  do ;  but  at  the  time 
had  no  idea  of  the  cause.  Since  you  have  mentioned  it  and 
coupled  it  with  other  things  it  is  as  you  state  the  case  — 
have  no  doubt  of  it.  The  "Senator"  was  balked;  he  was 
disappointed:  he  is  now  most  emphatically  balked  —  so  is 
the  whole  Western  Democracy.  The  Douglas  men  here,  and 
in  the  north  part  of  the  State  where  I  have  been,  look 
gloomy,  curse  strongly  — ' '  drink  heap  whiskey. ' '  It  does 
my  soul  good  to  see  the  devils  ' '  chaw ' '  the  bitter  cud.  How 
ever,  they  will  be  Abolitionists.  Let  me  ask  you  a  terrible 
question:  "Is  not  Wendell  Phillips 's  idea  about  niggers 
and  the  Union  the  only  way  to  cut  the  knot  ?  Will  not  this 
people  be  compelled  to  cut  through  the  Constitution  to  reach 
the  nigger,  and  break  his  chains  so  as  to  keep  the  white 
man  free?" 

My  partner,  Mr.  Lincoln,  has  just  got  back  from  Chicago. 
He  says  he  saw  N.  B.  Judd,  who  is  quite  an  astute,  subtle 
politician;  he  is  right  from  Washington;  he  says  Douglas 
is  dead  —  feels  bad,  is  gloomy,  miserable,  knows  he  is  lost. 
Mr.  Judd  says  that  Buchanan  is  soon,  by  and  through  his 
friends  here,  to  organize  a  party  in  Illinois.  This  is  so  I 
think,  and  if  it  turns  out  true  the  end  of  Douglas  is  come ; 
his  political  grave  is  dug.  I  saw  a  man  from  ' '  Egypt ' ' 
a  Douglas  Democrat  —  the  other  day,  and  he  says  that  the 
mass  down  there  refuse  to  follow  Douglas.  Excuse  length. 
Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

As  Herndon  had  predicted,  the  Douglas  and  Buchanan  feud 
had  now  reached  the  personal  recrimination  stage,  and  all 
manner  of  exposures  were  promised.  Ugly  rumors  were  afloat, 
one  to  the  effect  that  Douglas  himself  was  not  entirely  innocent 
of  complicity  in  the  Lecompton  fraud,  which  he  so  valiantly 
opposed;  while  Douglas,  in  turn,  was  charging  Calhoun  with 
forgery.  At  any  rate,  it  was  evident  that  revelations  of  a 
startling  kind  would  be  made  if  all  threats  were  carried  out. 
Herndon  wrote  to  Mr.  Parker  correcting  two  errors  in  his 


144 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

former  letter,  and  rejoicing  in  the  prospect  of  disclosures  at 
the  capital: 

Springfield,  111.,  Feb.  24,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  want  to  correct  an  error  into  which  I  was 
led  by  the  telegrams.  News  did  land  here  that  Buchanan 
was  "chopping"  off  the  heads  of  his  enemies,  quick  and 
fast.  But  he  has  done  so  to  one  only,  and  that  was  the 
Chicago  postmaster.  Again :  I  stated  to  you  that  Mr.  Harris 
had  taken  a  pretty  bold  stand  for  freedom;  that  he  stood 
where  I  did  in  1856.  This  news  did  come  here,  but  it  is  not 
so ;  he  is  only  partially  with  us.  His  letter  to  the  New  York 
Democratic  Anti-Lecompton  party  is  as  far  as  he  goes.  I 
know  the  man ;  he  will  eventually  be  with  the  North ;  he  is 
shrewd,  not  bold;  small,  technical,  not  general  or  great; 
selfish,  not  generous.  Just  as  I  was  writing  my  letter  to  you 
my  office  got  full  of  people  inquiring  about  three  cent  law 
suits;  they  made  me  make  one  or  two  mistakes. 

I  received  a  letter,  a  reliable  one,  from  Washington,  that 
Douglas  and  Calhoun  are  belching  out  "secrets"  against 
each  other.  The  letter  says  that  Calhoun  will  prove  by  doc 
uments,  if  he  is  forced  to  do  so,  that  Mr.  Douglas  had  <•<,  finger 
in  making  the  Lecompton  constitution.  The  same  letter 
says  that  Douglas,  if  forced,  will  prove  that  Calhoun  com 
mitted  forgery  in  the  returns,  etc.  I  hope  each  will  be 
forced  to  open.  I  say,  ' '  Apply  the  screws. ' ' 

Mr.  Douglas  —  just  think  —  has  sent  me  some  documents 
this  morning.  That  is  something  I  never  expected,  nor 
desired.  The  world  does  move,  I  verily  believe.  You  need 
only  write  when  you  feel  like  doing  so.  I  know  your  busi 
ness  now  better  than  of  old,  and  excuse  you. 

Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Nor  was  there  any  real  basis  in  fact  for  the  charge  that  Doug 
las  was  involved  in  the  plot  to  defraud  Kansas  of  its  right  to  a 
fair  vote.  During  their  joint  debates  Lincoln,  prompted  it 
seems  by  Trumbull,  reviewed  the  shadowy  history  of  the 
Toombs  Bill,  and  sought  to  connect  his  opponent  with  its  nefar 
ious  scheme ;  but  an  impartial  survey  of  the  incident  acquits 
Douglas,  though  he  damaged  himself  at  the  time  by  his  method 
of  defense.1  Despite  these  threats  of  ugly  exposure,  "the  Lit- 
i  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  Johnson,  pp.  303-4,  379-80  (1908). 


145 


tie  Giant, ' '  by  his  fight  with  Buchanan  x  was  rapidly  regaining 
what  he  had  lost  in  Illinois  by  his  part  in  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise.  Many,  even  among  the  Republicans, 
who  had  been  deeply  estranged  from  him  since  1854,  were  not 
unwilling  to  revise  their  judgment  of  a  man  who  fought  in 
behalf  of  justice  to  Kansas  with  so  much  courage  and  pluck. 
Perhaps  the  Senator  was  as  much  surprised  as  any  one  else  at 
this  quick  turn  of  affairs,  but  he  saw  his  chance  and  knew  how 
to  use  it. 

Ill 

From  what  source  none  knew,  rumors  were  adrift  to  the  effect 
that  Douglas,  having  defied  the  Slave  party,  might  follow  the 
logic  of  his  position.  On  one  issue  at  least  he  was  already 
standing  with  the  Republicans,  and  there  were  those  who  hailed 
his  coming  over  to  the  party  with  great  joy,  notwithstanding 
the  distrust  of  him  by  the  party  leaders  in  Congress.  Though 
a  sinner  somewhat  late  in  returning,  they  conceived  that  he 
might  still  further  repent  of  his  sin  against  the  peace  and  good 
faith  of  the  nation.  Outside  of  Illinois,  the  party  seemed 
almost  willing  to  let  by-gones  be  by-gones  and  to  accept  Doug 
las  into  the  ranks  as  a  leader ;  some  going  so  far  as  to  intimate, 
as  a  practical  expedient,  that  the  party  demand  might  be 
softened  a  trifle,  if  need  be,  in  order  to  admit  so  able,  cour 
ageous,  and  influential  a  convert.  Stranger  things  had  hap 
pened,  and  the  suggestion  gathered  momentum  and  plausibility 
as  it  spread. 

At  last  Horace  Greeley,  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune  — 
perhaps  the  most  widely  read  paper  in  the  nation  —  espoused 
the  cause,  and  called  upon  Republicans  to  rally  about  ''the 

i  For  a  contemporary  critique  of  ' '  Mr.  Buchanan  's  Administration, ' ' 
see  an  article  of  that  title  by  James  Russell  Lowell  in  The  Atlantic  Month 
ly,  April,  1858,  which  reviewed  the  course  of  the  President,  stage  by  stage, 
including  his  attitude  toward  Kansas,  his  relation  to  William  Walker, 
Paulding,  and  the  rest;  perhaps  the  most  scathing  arraignment  of  a  Pres 
idential  administration  ever  written.  A  more  temperate  survey  is  that  of 
James  G.  Elaine,  Tutenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  I,  Chap.  X,  especially 
pp.  239-241  (1884). 


146 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

Little  Giant"  in  his  fight  against  the  common  foe.  Taking 
its  cue,  the  party  press,  especially  in  the  East,  began  to  speak 
favorably  of  Douglas  and  his  revolt,  in  the  hope  of  gaining  a 
distinguished  recruit.  Even  Seward  seemed  to  incline  to  the 
same  attitude  for  a  time,  though  he  very  prudently  said  noth 
ing  publicly ;  but  his  supposed  organ,  the  New  York  Times,  was 
outspoken  in  favor  of  it.  But  when  Greeley  —  honest,  well- 
meaning,  but  ill-advised  —  actually  urged  the  Republicans  of 
Illinois  to  put  up  no  candidate  in  the  coming  race  for  the 
Senate,  there  were  protests.  Lincoln  and  his  friends  had  fore 
seen  it  all  from  the  first,  except  the  blunder  of  Greeley,  and 
their  minds  were  made  up.  Ten  days  after  the  revolt  of 
Douglas,  Gustave  Koerner  had  written  an  article  for  the 
Anzeiger  des  Westens  of  St.  Louis,  reviewing  the  situation  and 
summing  it  up  in  much  the  same  language  that  Herndon  had 
used  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Parker  on  December  19th.  Aptly  and 
incisively  he  stated  the  crux  of  the  case : 

It  is  a  very  ingenious  scheme ;  but  we  Illinoisans  know  Judge 
Douglas  too  well  to  be  taken  in  by  it.  If  he  will  help  us  to 
defeat  the  regular  Democracy,  very  well;  we  will  not  repel 
him ;  but  to  make  him  the  champion  of  our  principles  because 
he  happens  in  some  points  to  agree  with  us,  while  on  others 
concerning  the  slavery  question  he  is  against  us  and  still 
denounces  us  as  Black  Republicans,  would  be  the  height  of 
self-degradation  and  imbecility.  It  would  grant  him  abso 
lution  of  the  terrible  sin  he  has  committed  against  the  peace, 
dignity  and  morality  of  the  people.  Put  him  in  the  Senate 
again,  and  in  less  than  a  year  he  will  have  made  his  peace 
with  the  pro-Slavery  party,  and  we  shall  have  been  duped. 
Do  not  listen  to  the  persuasive  advice  of  outside  Republi 
cans  who  do  not  know  Judge  Douglas,  but  stand  to  your 
colors  of  1856  and  spurn  any  unholy  and  compromising 
alliances.1 

These  men,  only  a  small  coterie  at  first,  refused  to  accept  the 
leadership  of  Douglas  without  some  inquiry  as  to  his  motives. 
Having  for  years  faced  him  as  the  ablest,  most  alert,  most 
bitter  of  their  foes,  they  demanded  some  evidence  of  repent 
ance  more  genuine  than  a  desire  to  return  to  the  Senate  without 
1  Memoirs  of  Giistave  Koerner,  Vol.  II,  pp.  55,  56  (1909). 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      147 

a  fight.  They  could  not  agree  with  philosopher  Greeley  that 
not  only  magnanimity,  but  policy,  dictated  that  they  should 
tender  their  support  to  a  man  who  had  said  that  he  did  not  care 
whether  slavery  was  voted  up  or  down.  Nor  did  they  believe 
that  Douglas  had  any  intention  of  coming  over  to  the  Repub 
lican  party.  "I  see  his  tracks  all  over  our  State,"  wrote 
Medill,  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  "and  they  point  only  in  one 
direction;  not  a  single  toe  is  turned  toward  the  Republican 
camp.  Watch  him,  use  him,  but  do  not  trust  him  —  not  an 
inch. " x  As  Greeley  afterwards  observed,  ' '  They  did  not 
concur,  but  received  the  suggestion  with  passionate  impa 
tience.  ' ' 2 

But  at  Washington  it  was  different.  By  mid-winter  poli 
tics  had  made  odd  things  familiar,  while  "the  Little  Giant" 
was  still  fighting  the  Lecompton  fraud  —  a  fraud  so  palpable, 
indeed,  that  Senator  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  who  sup 
ported  it  at  every  step,  afterward  declared  publicly  that  it 
should  at  once  have  been  kicked  out  of  Congress.  On  more 
than  one  occasion  Greeley  was  a  visitor  at  the  Douglas  residence 
in  Minnesota  Block,  and  gossip  had  it  that  he  favored  Douglas 
for  the  Presidency.3  One  after  another  men  like  Henry  Wil 
son,  Schuyler  Colfax,  and  other  Republican  leaders,  lost  their 
distrust  in  an  air  of  engaging  good-fellowship ;  4  and  some  of 
them  were  ready  to  indorse  "popular  sovereignty,"  now  that 
it  seemed  likely  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  Territories.5  Doug 
las  intimated  to  these  men  that  he  could  not  act  with  his  party 
in  the  future,6  assuring  them,  repeatedly,  that  he  was  in  the 
fight  to  stay  —  in  his  own  words,  that ' '  he  had  taken  a  through 

1  Life  of  Schuyler  Colfax,  by  O.  J.  Hollister,  p.  120  (1886). 

2  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  by  Horace  Greeley,  p.   357    (1869). 
' '  And  besides, ' '  he  added,  ' '  their  hearts  were  set  on  the  election,  as  his 
successor,  of  their  own  special  favorite  and  champion,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
who  .  .  .  was  endeared  to  them  by  his  honest  worth  as  a  man. ' ' 

s  First  Blows  of  the  Civil  War,  by  J.  S.  Pike,  p.  403   (1879). 
*IAfe  of  Colfax,  by  O.  J.  Hollister,  pp.  119  ff.;  The  Rise  and  Fall  of 
the  Slave  Power,  by  Henry  Wilson,  Vol.  II,  p.  567  (1872). 

s  Life  of  Seward,  by  Frederick  Bancroft,  Vol.  I,  pp.  449-50   (1900). 
e  Life  of  Schuyler  Colfax,  by  O.  J.  Hollister,  p.  121  (1886). 


148 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

ticket,  and  checked  his  baggage."1  In  a  letter  to  Theodore 
Parker,  February  28,  1858,  Wilson  wrote,  quite  positive  that 
Douglas  was  a  man  to  be  trusted : 

I  say  to  you  in  confidence  that  you  are  mistaken  in  regard 
to  Douglas.  He  is  as  sure  to  be  with  us  in  the  future  as 
Chase,  Seward  or  Sumner.  I  leave  motives  to  God ;  but  he 
is  to  be  with  us ;  and  he  is  today  of  more  weight  to  our  cause 
than  any  ten  men  in  the  country.  I  know  men  and  I  know 
their  power,  and  I  know  that  Douglas  will  go  for  crushing 
the  Slave  Power  to  atoms.  To  use  his  own  words,  to  several 
of  our  friends,  this  day,  in  a  three-hours  consultation :  ' '  We 
must  grind  this  administration  to  powder ;  we  must  punish 
every  man  who  supports  this  crime ;  and  we  must  prostrate 
forever  the  Slave  Power,  which  uses  Presidents  and  dis 
honors  and  disgraces  them. ' '  He  will  sink  the  Democratic 
party.  Don't  fear  him.  Have  faith  in  men;  the  future 
is  bright  with  hope.2 

Truly  it  was  the  voice  of  Esau,  but  Mr.  Parker  knew  that  the 
hands  were  the  hands  of  a  very  slippery  and  cunning  political 
Jacob.3  No  one  now  believes  that  Douglas  ever  had  any  inten 
tion  of  going  over  to  the  Republican  party;  but  in  the  new 
twist  of  events  he  did  see,  as  Lincoln  said,  a  chance  of  attaching 
the  Republicans,  or  a  part  of  them,  to  the  tail  of  his  Presi 
dential  kite.  Having  breached  the  Democracy,  if  he  could 
divide  the  Republican  party  he  might  be  able  to  harness  one 
of  its  steeds  with  his  Democratic  donkey  and  ride  first  into  the 
Senate,  and  then  into  the  White  House.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  this  was  his  supreme  aim  in  1858,  and  one  must  keep  it  in 

1  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  by  Horace  Greeley,  p.  356    (1869). 

2  Manuscript  letter,  by  the  kindness  of  Mr.  F.  B.  Sanborn. 

3  While  in  Illinois,  during  the  campaign  of  1856,  Mr.  Parker  had  heard 
Douglas  speak  at  Galesburg,  October  21st.     Writing  to  Hon.  J.  P.  Hale, 
he  said:     "I  heard  Douglas  this  afternoon.     He  was  considerably  drunk 
and  made  one  of  the  most  sophistical  and  deceitful  speeches  I  ever  heard. 
It  was  mere  brutality  in  respect  to  morals,  and  sophistry  for  logic,  in  the 
style  and  manner  of  a  low  blackguard.  .  .  But  there  is  a  good  deal  of  rough 
power  in  his  evil  face.     I  never  saw  him  before. ' '  —  Life  of  Parker,  by 
John  Weiss,  Vol.  II,  p.  187  (1864).     Mr.  Weiss  suppressed  a  part  of  the 
letter  in  his  facsimile  reproduction  of  it.  —  Theodore  Parker,  by  J.  W. 
Chadwick,  p.  331  (1900).     Not  for  this  one  scene,  but  after  watching  the 
course  of  Douglas,  Parker  had  lost  faith  in  him. 


149 


mind  in  order  to  understand  that  memorable  campaign.  It 
was  a  daring  scheme,  but  not  at  all  impossible,  and  it  would 
have  succeeded  had  not  Lincoln  placed  his  party  upon  a  basis 
so  radical  that  Douglas  dared  not  follow.  So  that  when  the 
Senator  returned  in  triumph  to  Chicago,  feeling  that  his  fight 
for  Kansas  had  won  the  day,  he  found,  to  his  amazement,  that 
his  rival  had  dictated  an  issue  which  placed  him  upon  the  de 
fensive.1 

One  has  only  to  read  the  letters  of  Lincoln  to  learn  that  he 
had  the  ambitions  of  a  man;  but  it  is  the  actual  truth  to  say 
that  in  this  crisis,  though  his  own  political  future  was  involved, 
personal  motives  were  secondary.  Indeed,  he  had  on  more 
than  one  occasion  shown  his  willingness  to  stand  aside  for 
other  men  who  were  true  to  the  right  star  —  for  Trumbull  in 
1854,  to  go  no  farther  back.  But  he  could  not  sit  still  and  see 
the  party  which  had  fought  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com 
promise,  had  survived  the  defeat  of  1856,  and  had  risen  to  new 
life  under  the  staggering  blow  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  fall 
into  the  clutches  of  a  man  whom  he  regarded  as  a  trimmer,  a 
trickster,  and  a  political  gambler.  He  knew  that,  on  the  slav 
ery  question,  Douglas  had  no  deep  feeling ; 2  that  he  regarded 
it  as  a  local  instead  of  a  national  problem,  and  really  did  not 

1  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Clark  E.  Carr,  pp.  78-9  (1909). 

2  That  Douglas  had  no  deep  feeling  with  regard  to  the  moral  obliquity 
of  slavery  hardly  needs  proof.     While,  for  various  reasons,  he  did  not  own 
slaves,  as  was  charged  against  him,  his  wife  did.      (See  a  letter  from 
Eobert  M.  Douglas,  his  eldest  son,  quoted  in  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Clark 
E.  Carr,  pp.  58-9).     When  pressed  directly  upon  the  subject  of  the  evil 
of  slavery,  he  invariably  dodged.     He  did  not  regard  the  negro  as  a  citizen, 
declaring  over  and  over  again  :     ' '  This  is  a  white  man 's  government  made 
by  white  men,  for  white  men  and  their  descendants. ' '     He  held  that  the 
dictum  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  "all  men  are  created 
equal, ' '  had  no  reference  whatsoever  to  the  negro ;  and,  historically,  no 
doubt  he  was  right.     In  every  argument  he  made  he  classed  negro  slaves 
as  he  did  other  property,  and  once  at  least  he  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  if 
he  lived  in  Louisiana  he  would  own  slaves  and  defend  his  right.  —  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  Johnson,  p.  415.     Again  and  again  during  their 
joint  debates,  Lincoln  tried  to  draw  from  him  some  expression  as  to  the 
essential  evil  of  slavery,  but  to  no  purpose.     The  root  of  the  matter  was 
not  in  him. 


150 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

care  whether  it  was  voted  up  or  down.  Small  wonder,  then, 
that  he  was  depressed  and  gloomy  when  he  saw  men  like  Gree- 
ley  bent  on  trading  the  birthright  of  the  party  for  a  mess 
of  pottage. 

Herndon,  as  we  have  noted,  had  foreseen  the  possibility  of 
Douglas  coming  over  to  the  Republicans,  and  had  contemplated 
with  disgust  the  idea  of  having  to  vote  for  him;  but  when  it 
became  a  probability,  linked  with  the  suggestion  that  the  party 
ideal  be  lowered,  his  indignation  was  only  surpassed  by  his 
excitement.  At  once  he  began  writing  to  Seward,  Sumner, 
Phillips,  Greeley,  Trumbull,  and  others,  protesting  against 
such  a  vile  apostasy,  and  urging  them  not  to  fall  into  the  trap 
set  by  Douglas.  The  replies,  except  those  of  Senator  Trumbull, 
were  so  unsatisfactory  that  he  determined  to  go  to  Washington 
and  New  England,  and  see  the  situation  for  himself.  Lincoln 
doubted  the  propriety  of  such  a  journey,  which,  by  virtue  of 
their  close  relations,  might  be  misconstrued ;  but  Herndon  over 
ruled  all  objections,  packed  his  grip,  and  started  for  Wash 
ington,  dropping  a  note  the  while  to  Mr.  Parker. 

Springfield,  111.,  March  4,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  received  from  you  this  morning  your 
speech,  in  the  Anti-Slavery  Standard,  made  on  January  29th. 
I  thank  you  for  it.  I  have  read  it  with  pleasure,  and  am 
instructed  by  it.  You  hit  Douglas  hard,  yet  do  him  justice. 
One  mistake  you  labor  under,  and  it  is  this :  you  say  that 
the  people  of  Illinois  would  vote  for  him  this  day.  You 
are  mistaken.  The  cowardly  rulers  and  leaders  of  the  iron- 
chain  Democracy  are  going  over  to  Buchanan  "  thick  and 
fast."  They  are  looking  for  plunder;  they  are  for  sale; 
they  scorn  Douglas. 

I  am  on  my  way  to  Washington  —  probably  start  this 
evening  or  tomorrow  morning  —  and  from  which  place  I 
will  write  to  you,  giving  my  opinion  of  things.  I  want  to 
see  Douglas's  face:  /  want  to  look  Mm  in  the  eye.  I  think 
I  know  what  he  is  as  well  as  any  man,  having  seen  him 
enough  in  all  conditions  and  states. 

Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Though  Parker,  who  was  unused  to  the  ways  of  drinking  men, 
had  no  idea  what  Herndon  meant  by  ' '  looking  Douglas  in  the 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      151 

eye, ' '  he  awaited  reports.  In  "Washington  Mr.  Herndon  dined 
with  Senator  Trumbull,  and  went  over  the  situation  with  him 
in  detail.  Trumbull  was  somewhat  puzzled  but  not  alarmed 
by  the  course  of  Douglas,  concerning  which  he  deemed  it 
useless  to  speculate,  since  in  his  belief  Douglas  himself  did 
not  know  where  he  was  going  or  where  he  would  come  out. 
He  was  quite  positive,  however,  that  Douglas  had  no  idea  of 
easting  his  lot  with  the  Republican  party.  Feeling  that  Trum 
bull  was  not  on  the  inside  of  the  scheme,  Mr.  Herndon  inter- 
riewed  Seward  and  Wilson,  both  of  whom  had  already  wel 
comed  Douglas  as  a  powerful  ally,  on  the  ground  that  through 
him  the  gospel  was  being  preached,  though  with  adulteration, 
to  the  Gentiles.1  Douglas  himself  was  ill  in  bed : 

But  on  receiving  my  card  he  directed  me  to  be  shown  up  to 
his  room.  We  had  a  pleasant  and  interesting  interview. 
Of  course  the  conversation  soon  turned  on  Lincoln.  In  answer 
to  an  inquiry  regarding  the  latter  I  remarked  that  Lincoln 
was  pursuing  the  even  tenor  of  his  way.  "He  is  not  in 
anybody's  way,"  I  contended,  "not  even  in  yours,  Judge 
Douglas."  He  was  sitting  up  in  a  chair  smoking  a  cigar. 
Between  puffs  he  responded  that  neither  was  he  in  the  way 
of  Lincoln  or  any  one  else,  and  did  not  intend  to  invite 
conflict.  He  conceived  that  he  had  achieved  what  he  had 
set  out  to  do,  and  hence  did  not  feel  that  his  course  need 
put  him  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln  or  his  party.  "Give 
Mr.  Lincoln  my  regards,"  he  said,  rather  warmly,  "when 
you  return,  and  tell  him  I  have  crossed  the  river  and  burned 
my  boat. ' ' 2 

There  was  more  to  the  interview,  as  we  shall  see  later,  which 
included  more  than  one  "look  into  the  eye  of  Douglas,"  and 
Mr.  Herndon  left  firmly  convinced  that  the  wolf  was  after  the 
sheep.  Having  spent  several  days  in  the  capital  and  its  en 
virons,  he  went  to  New  York  to  have  it  out  with  Greeley  face 
to  face,  and  to  advise  him  of  the  state  of  sentiment  in  Illinois. 
He  found  that  Greeley,  while  not  hostile  to  Lincoln,  was  more 
than  ever  fixed  in  his  opinion  that  it  was  wiser  to  return  Doug- 

1  Life  of  Seward,  by  T.  K.  Lothrop,  p.  178  (1899). 

2  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  II,  pp.  62,  63. 


152 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

las  to  the  Senate ;  nor  could  he  be  moved.1  All  the  same,  Hern- 
don  presented  the  ease  of  his  partner  in  the  best  phase  he  knew 
how,  and  went  to  see  Beecher,  who  received  him  cordially  and 
sent  a  message  of  good  cheer  by  him  to  Lincoln.  From  New 
York  he  went  to  Boston,  where  he  found  the  sentiment  in  favor 
of  Douglas  even  more  pronounced.  About  the  time  of  his 
arrival  Douglas  made  a  speech  in  the  Senate,  rising  from  his 
bed,  it  was  said,  by  sheer  force  of  will  to  enter  a  final  plea  for 
sanity  before  his  party  took  its  suicidal  plunge.  In  closing 
he  said: 

I  intend  to  perform  my  duty  in  accordance  with  my  own 
convictions.  Neither  the  frowns  of  power  nor  the  influence 
of  patronage  will  change  my  action,  or  drive  me  from  my 
principles.  I  stand  firmly,  immovably  upon  those  great 
principles  of  self-government  and  state  sovereignty  upon 
which  the  campaign  was  fought  and  the  election  won.  .  .  . 
If,  standing  firmly  by  my  principles,  I  shall  be  driven  into 
private  life,  it  is  a  fate  that  has  no  terrors  for  me.  I  prefer 
private  life,  preserving  my  own  self-respect  and  manhood,  to 
abject  and  servile  submission  to  executive  will.  ...  I  am 
prepared  to  retire.  Official  position  has  no  charms  for  me 
when  deprived  of  that  freedom  of  thought  and  action  which 
becomes  a  gentleman  and  a  Senator. 

With  such  words  ringing  in  their  ears  New  England  men 
could  not  understand  why  Mr.  Herndon  was  not  a  supporter 
of  Douglas.  Those  who  spoke  to  him  of  the  situation  in  Illi 
nois  took  it  for  granted  that  the  Republicans  were  going  to 
rally  about  "the  Little  Giant,"  and  send  him  back  to  the 
Senate  as  a  reward  for  his  fight  for  Kansas.  When  he  men 
tioned  Lincoln,  he  was  several  times  asked  if  his  partner  had 
not  once  engaged  in  a  duel 2  —  a  reference  to  the  absurd  inci 
dent  with  Shields  sixteen  years  before.  Herndon  was  indeed 
astonished  that  so  trivial  an  incident  had  lived  so  long  and 
traveled  so  far,  as  if  Lincoln  had  never  done  anything  else. 
Writing  to  Lincoln,  he  reported  the  trend  of  things : 3 

1  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  by  Horace  Greeley,  p.  358  (1869). 

2  Lincoln,  Master  of  Men,  by  A.  Eothschild,  p.  74   (1906). 

3  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  II,  pp.  63,  64. 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS 153 

Revere  House,  Boston,  Mass.,  March  4,  1858. 
Friend  Lincoln : 

I  am  in  this  city  of  notions,  and  am  well  —  very  well  in 
deed.  I  wrote  you  a  hasty  letter  from  Washington  some 
days  ago,  since  which  time  I  have  been  in  Philadelphia,  Bal 
timore,  New  York,  and  now  here.  I  saw  Greeley,  and  so 
far  as  any  of  our  conversation  is  interesting  to  you  will 
relate.  And  we  talked,  say  twenty  minutes.  He  evidently 
wants  Douglas  sustained  and  sent  back  to  the  Senate.  He 
did  not  say  so  much  in  so  many  words,  yet  his  feelings  are 
with  Douglas.  I  know  it  from  the  spirit  and  drift  of  his 
conversation.  He  talked  bitterly  —  somewhat  so  —  against 
the  papers  in  Illinois,  and  said  they  were  fools.  I  asked 
him  this  question,  "Greeley,  do  you  want  to  see  a  third 
party  organized,  or  do  you  want  Douglas  to  ride  to  power 
through  the  North,  which  he  has  so  much  abused  and  be 
trayed  ? ' '  and  to  which  he  replied,  ' '  Let  the  future  alone ; 
it  will  all  come  right.  Douglas  is  a  brave  man.  Forget 
the  past  and  sustain  the  righteous."  Good  God,  righteous, 
eh! 

Since  I  have  landed  in  Boston  I  have  seen  much  that  was 
entertaining  and  interesting.  This  morning  I  was  intro 
duced  to  Governor  Banks.  He  and  I  had  a  conversation 
about  Republicanism  and  especially  about  Douglas.  He 
asked  me  this  question,  "You  will  sustain  Douglas  in  Illi 
nois,  won't  you?"  and  to  which  I  said,  "No,  never  I"  He 
affected  to  be  much  surprised,  and  so  the  matter  dropped 
and  turned  on  Republicanism,  or  in  general  —  Lincoln. 
Greeley 's  and  other  sheets  that  laud  Douglas,  Harris,  et  al., 
want  them  sustained,  and  will  try  to  do  it.  Several  persons 
have  asked  me  the  same  question  which  Banks  asked,  and 
evidently  they  get  their  cue,  ideas,  or  what  not  from  Greeley, 
Seward,  and  others.  By-the-by,  Greeley  remarked  to  me 
this,  ' '  The  Republican  standard  is  too  high ;  we  want  some 
thing  practical." 

This  may  not  be  interesting  to  you,  but,  however  it  may 
be,  it  is  my  duty  to  state  what  is  going  on,  so  that  you  may 
head  it  off  —  counteract  it  in  some  way.  I  hope  it  can  be 
done.  The  Northern  men  are  cold  to  me  —  somewhat  repel 
lent.  Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Mr.  Herndon  thoroughly  enjoyed  his  stay  in  New  England, 
despite  its  unfavorable  political  weather.  Nature  was  at  hand 
to  soothe  whatever  disappointment  he  felt  at  the  wrong-head- 


154 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

edness  of  party  leaders,  while  the  city  of  Boston,  with  its 
historic  shrines  and  associations,  appealed  strongly  to  his  imag 
ination.  If  some  of  the  men  whom  he  had  seen  afar  dwarfed 
upon  nearer  approach,  others  towered  to  take  their  places  — 
notably  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  whom  he  had  pictured  as  a 
cold,  narrow,  bigoted,  ungracious  man,  but  whom  he  after 
wards  regarded  as  one  of  the  noblest  men  the  nation  had 
known.  Nor  was  he  mistaken ;  for,  of  all  the  fathers  and  fight 
ers  of  the  anti-slavery  crusade,  for  such  it  was,  Garrison  was 
surely  one  of  the  most  enlightened,  one  of  the  most  disinter 
ested,  one  of  the  most  consistent  and  constant ;  and,  in  private 
life  and  personal  character,  one  of  the  most  admirable.  Gar 
rison  afterwards  visited  Mr.  Herndon  in  Springfield,  and 
their  friendship  endured,  through  good  and  evil  days,  to  the 
end.  Though  somewhat  chilled  by  Sumner,  the  "green  Suck 
er,  "  as  he  called  himself,  was  warmly  received  by  Phillips  and 
Parker,  whose  hospitality  he  enjoyed,  and  to  whom  he  could 
talk  with  equal  freedom  of  politics  and  religion.  To  Hern 
don,  as  to  many  another  in  those  days,  a  Sunday  in  Music 
Hall  was  an  experience  long  anticipated  and  never  to  be  for 
gotten.  There  he  saw  Theodore  Parker  on  his  throne,  his  vast 
audience  before  him,  his  ample  discourse  a  kind  of  brilliant 
scene  painting  —  large,  rapid,  and  vivid,  with  masses  of  light 
and  shade,  ranging  wide  and  free  in  its  portrayal  of  the  life 
of  God  in  the  soul  of  man.  Herndon  was  essentially  religious, 
and  the  prayer  touched  him  more  deeply  than  the  sermon,  all 
the  more  so  for  that  Parker  seemed  to  be  out  of  doors  when  he 
prayed;  and  there  was  wind,  and  sun,  and  gentle  rain  in  his 
petition,  so  simple  and  joyous,  and  withal  so  unforgetf ul  of  the 
weary  and  the  heavy-ladened.  The  audience  not  less  than 
the  service  impressed  him,  and  no  wonder,  for  what  a  galaxy 
of  men  gathered  about  the  man  of  Music  Hall ! 

Returning  home,  Herndon  had  many  interesting  things  to 
tell  his  partner,  in  whose  behalf  he  had  made  the  journey,  and 
whose  interests  he  sought  to  advance ;  and  it  was  characteristic 
of  him  to  report,  faithfully  and  fully,  all  the  kind  words  he  had 
heard  about  Lincoln  from  Phillips,  Garrison,  Beecher,  Parker, 


THE  BEVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      155 

and  even  Greeley.  Among  a  number  of  books  which  he  brought 
back  with  him  was  a  Life  of  Edmund  Burke  —  probably  by  Sir 
James  Prior,  in  the  Bohn  Library,  1854  —  which  he  tried  to 
induce  Lincoln  to  read,  but  without  success.  Lincoln  dipped 
into  it,  but  soon  tired  of  the  eulogy  which  he  said  could  not  be 
a  true  story  of  any  man,  since  it  robbed  him  of  all  human 
faults.  He  did,  however,  read  some  of  the  lectures  and  ser 
mons  of  Parker  —  Herndon  having  brought  a  new  supply  — 
in  one  of  which  he  marked  the  expression:  "Democracy  is 
direct  self-government,  over  all  the  people,  for  all  the  people, 
by  all  the  people."  No  doubt  this  was  the  origin  of  that 
famous  phrase  which  Lincoln,  with  his  sure  instinct  for  the 
right  word,  set  like  a  jewel  in  the  imperishable  gold  of  the 
Gettysburg  address.1 

IV 

Two  days  after  his  return,  Herndon  wrote  to  Mr.  Parker  giving 
his  impressions  of  New  England  and  her  people,  complaining 
somewhat  bitterly  of  the  coldness  of  Boston  men.  No  one  had 
called  on  him  during  the  ten  days  he  was  in  the  city,  which 
contrasted  strangely  with  his  Southern  code  of  hospitality. 
Still,  it  was  not  of  this  neglect  that  he  complained,  but  of  the 
general  uncommunicativeness  of  New  England  folk,  many  of 

i  Indeed,  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  was  the  origin,  so  far  as  Lincoln 
was  concerned,  of  that  memorable  phrase,  though  some  have  traced  it  to 
Thomas  Cooper,  and  others  to  the  preface  of  the  old  Wycliffe  Bible.  The 
chance  that  Lincoln  ever  saw  Cooper's  Information  Eespecting  America, 
or  the  Wycliffe  Bible,  is  infinitesimally  small.  Parker  may  have  seen  both, 
for  his  library  of  12,000  volumes  contained  almost  a  hundred  editions  of 
the  Bible,  some  of  them  very  rare.  At  any  rate,  the  phrase,  in  one  form 
or  another,  had  been  a  favorite  with  Parker  for  yearg,  often  taking  the 
exact  form  in  which  Lincoln  used  it.  In  a  speech  delivered  in  1859  we  find 
it  embedded  in  a  passage  of  great  power,  while  his  first  use  of  it  was  in  a 
letter  to  Samuel  J.  May,  in  1846,  where  it  is  simply  ' '  government  of  all,  by 
all,  for  all. ' '  But  the  testimony  of  Herndon  is  sufficient  as  it  relates  to 
Lincoln,  even  if  in  his  biography  he  is  mistaken  in  the  title  of  the  address 
which  he  gave  to  his  partner.  —  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  II,  p.  65.  The  ad 
dress  he  mentions,  ' '  The  Effect  of  Slavery, ' '  was  delivered  on  the  4th  of 
July  following.  See  also  article  by  N.  B.  Judd,  Century  Magazine,  Sep 
tember,  1887. 


156 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

whom  seemed  to  regard  his  inquisitive  Western  ways  as  intru 
sive.     Nevertheless,  he  was  loyal  to  Boston : 

Springfield,  111.,  April  7,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  landed  at  home  on  the  5th,  having  im 
proved  in  body  and  mind  by  my  trip  East.  In  my  travels 
I  was  sadly  disappointed  in  individual  men,  but  glor 
iously  disappointed  in  the  grandeur  of  Nature.  Upon 
approach  to  individual  men  they  seemed  to  shrink,  whilst 
Nature  grew  upon  closer  acquaintance.  I  always  loved 
Nature  —  loved  it  long  and  well  —  and  now  that  childish 
love  has  grown  and  expanded  into  the  reverences  of  man 
hood.  My  ideas  of  Nature  and  God  have  deepened  and 
broadened,  have  become  rich  and  warm  in  me,  and  I  feel 
a  fresh,  vigorous  confidence  in  the  purity  of  Nature,  and 
the  eternal  love  of  God  for  all  his  creatures,  multiform  and 
multitudinous.  I  breathe  freely  and  rest  easily  —  a  kind  of 
new  man. 

Though  simple  individuals  have  dwarfed  upon  acquaint 
ance,  still  I  am  rejoiced  to  know  that  some  few  are  really 
great  and  good.  Some  of  these  men  are  not  now  known, 
but  they  will  be ;  and  I  think  I  understand  them  better  than 
I  have  the  credit  for,  even  from  them.  It  was  my  desire 
and  wish  whilst  in  Boston  to  form  a  nearer  acquaintance 
with  some  few  men ;  but  I  was  somewhat  coldly  repelled.  I 
do  not  complain.  I  shall  never  utter  publicly  a  lament. 
Was  it  not  poor  Goldsmith  who  said  that  ' '  aspiring  poverty 
is  wretchedness  itself. ' '  Was  it  not  he  ?  I  say  that  to  know 
the  great,  or  rather  to  aspire  to,  is  a  weakness  and  a  misery. 
Any  man  is  an  ass  who  will  attempt  it,  and  I  put  myself 
down  in  that  category  first  of  all  —  a  proud  reigning  ass. 
So  much  for  so  much. 

My  opinion  of  Massachusetts  and  her  people  is  rather 
intensified  and  greatened.  It  was  always  tolerably  good, 
and  that  opinion  is  not  lessened.  To  her  and  her  ruling 
spirits  I  remain  firm.  Boston  is  a  great  city ;  it  is  a  world 
of  granite,  a  city  of  places  and  squares.  I  saw  in  Boston 
some  of  the  noblest  and  handsomest  women  I  ever  saw :  they 
will  save  the  race,  if  the  men  fail.  If  there  is  anything  that 
a  poor  ignorant  "Sucker"  like  myself  can  arrogate  to  him 
self  it  is  this,  namely,  an  intuitive  seeing  of  human  character. 
I  watched  you  all  closely,  and  am  not  deceived.  I  say  that 
your  men  are  generally  cold  —  probably  not  more  selfish 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      157 

than  other  men ;  but  they  are  cold.  Understand  me.  I  do 
not  say  this  indiscriminately  of  all.  But  your  women  are 
spontaneously  good,  generous,  and  loving.  And  now  I  say, 
God  save  you  all ! 

By  the  by,  I  was  greatly  disappointed  in  one  man,  espe 
cially.  I  had  imagined  him  a  shriveled,  cold,  selfish,  haughty 
man,  one  who  was  weak  and  fanatically  blind  to  the  chari 
ties  and  equities  of  life,  at  once  whining  and  insulting,  mean 
and  miserable ;  but  I  was  pleasantly  disappointed.  I  found 
him  warm,  generous,  approachable,  communicative:  he  has 
some  mirth,  some  wit,  and  a  deep  abiding  faith  in  coming 
universal  charity.  I  was  better  and  more  warmly  received 
by  him  than  by  any  man  in  Boston ;  and  now  whom  do  you 
think  it  was  ?  It  was  this  nation 's  greatest  outlaw :  it  was 
William  Lloyd  Garrison.  To  my  Western  friends  I  can 
give  a  good  account  of  Garrison. 

As  to  the  combined  efforts  of  mind,  which  find  expression 
in  combinations  of  power  and  modifications  of  forces,  toiling 
in  mills  and  machinery  generally,  the  world  must  acknowl 
edge  Massachusetts  master.  I  had  no  time  to  study  her 
thousand  branches  of  the  sciences  and  the  arts ;  and  conse 
quently  I  studied  what  I  saw  whilst  I  ran.  I  almost  re 
flected  while  I  slept :  it  was  all  new  to  me,  and  exceedingly 
interesting  to  one  who  is  so  "green."  I  say  this  with  the 
same  candor  that  I  have  talked  about  men  and  things  in  this 
letter.  I  know  my  faults,  positive  and  negative.  I  was 
not  reared  in  cities  or  in  costly  halls,  and  am  not  up  to  the 
civilities,  or  rather  the  forms  of  civilities.  I  blunder  here 
and  err  there,  and  all  I  can  say  is,  ' '  Forgive  my  trippings. ' ' 
How  can  a  poor  Western  devil  help  being  surprised  and 
overwhelmed  amid  a  confusion  of  men  and  things. 

Now  as  to  you  personally :  I  heard  your  sermon  on  Sun 
day  two  weeks  since,  and  was  at  once  highly  pleased  and 
gratified.  The  sermon  was  deep,  rich,  broad,  and  generous, 
giving  all  their  due.  It  was  bottomed  upon  a  grand  social, 
political,  and  religious  philosophy — the  best  experiences  and 
reflections  in  the  Kantian  sense.  I  do  not  say  this  because 
it  is  you ;  I  say  it  because  it  is  true,  and  I  think  I  understand 
the  elements  of  the  Beautiful,  the  Good,  and  the  True;  at 
least  I  feel  them,  if  I  cannot  logically  comprehend  them. 
I  was  gratified  at  the  immensity  of  your  audience ;  was  sur 
prised  at  the  number  of  men  and  women  who  came  to  hear 
you  —  to  learn  and  grow  wiser  and  better  through  you. 
Technical  theology  is  odious  and  it  can  never  comprehend, 


158  LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 

much  less  invade  the  threshold  of  Music  Hall.     There  let 
Humanity,  Duty,  Charity,  God  reign  forever  supreme ! 

My  whole  trip  was  one  of  delight,  amusement,  pleasure 
and  profit,  bating  a  little  for  disappointments  and  rebuffs. 
In  Illinois  our  vegetation  is  much  in  advance  of  Massachu 
setts.  Our  gooseberry  bushes  are  out  in  full  leaf ;  our  lilac 
is  out,  and  blooming ;  our  tulips  are  up,  and  the  flower  stem 
is  two  or  three  inches  high;  our  people  are  planting  their 
crops;  Nature  everywhere  looks  kindly,  fresh,  and  green, 
inviting  its  lovers  to  ' '  promenade  all, ' '  and  dance  a  universal 
waltz.  Give  my  best  respects  to  Mrs.  Parker,  and  to  Gar 
rison.  Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

If  Lincoln  could  not  read  the  Life  of  Edmund  Burke,  he  did 
read,  attentively,  another  book  which  Mr.  Herndon  secured 
while  in  Washington  —  a  book  notable  in  its  day,  alike  for 
its  defects  and  its  facts,  The  Impending  Crisis  of  the  South  and 
How  to  Meet  It,  by  Hinton  Rowan  Helper,  of  North  Carolina. 
This  book,  a  passionate  appeal  to  the  non-slave-holding  people 
of  the  South  to  rise  up  and  rid  themselves  of  the  curse,  had 
been  indorsed  by  John  Sherman,  and  other  Republican  leaders, 
and  had  precipitated  a  bitter  contest  for  Speaker  of  the  House 
a  few  weeks  before.  The  book  appeared  in  the  latter  part  of 
1857  and  it  stirred  deeply  the  popular  mind,  especially  in  the 
North  where  its  facts  and  its  spirit  were  equally  astonishing, 
while  Southern  men  denounced  it  as  "insurrectionary  and  hos 
tile  to  the  tranquility  of  the  country."  Its  chief  contention, 
that  the  great  inferiority  of  the  South  in  wealth,  education, 
population,  and  production  was  due  to  slavery,  was  supported 
by  statistics.  It  showed,  on  the  basis  of  the  census  of  1850, 
that  in  a  population  of  6,184,477  in  the  Slave  States,  only  347,- 
525  were  slave-holders,  and  yet  that  small  minority  dominated 
the  South,  dictated  its  politics,  and  in  their  own  interest  were 
ready  to  dissolve  the  Union.  Therefore  its  appeal,  almost 
hysterical  at  times,  to  the  vast,  apathetic,  cowardly  majority 
to  bestir  themselves  and  throw  off  the  curse,  by  force  if  need 
be.1  Unfortunately  the  author  was  not  content  with  proving 

i  Originally  there  was  as  strong  an  anti-slavery  sentiment  in  Virginia 
and  Maryland  as  in  New  York  and  Ehode  Island,  nearly  all  great  Southern 
men,  from  Jefferson  to  E.  E.  Lee,  being  opposed  to  slavery.  The  mistaken 


THE  BEVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      159 

his  thesis,  or  with  showing  that  the  non-slave-holders,  who  were 
a  great  majority,  were  the  victims  of  gross  and  deliberate  injus 
tice.  His  hot  pen  ran  away  with  him  into  language  so  passion 
ate  and  revengeful  as  to  invite  ignorant  men  to  begin  a  class 
war  at  once. 

Yet  there  was  a  logic  in  his  facts  which  none  could  deny, 
albeit  vitiated  in  many  thoughtful  minds  by  his  frenzy  for  a 
sudden  and  revolutionary  change.  Still,  men  like  Greeley, 
Sherman,  William  Cullen  Bryant,  and  Weed  overlooked  these 
excesses  in  view  of  the  array  of  facts,  in  the  hope  that  the  book 
would  help  such  efforts  as  Cassius  M.  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  and 
B.  G.  Brown  and  F.  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  of  Missouri,  were  making  to 
create  an  anti-slavery  party  on  slave  soil.  Long  before,  this 
had  been  advocated,  theoretically,  by  Henry  Clay  and  others, 
but  now  it  seemed  to  be  a  possible,  if  not  a  probable,  move. 
This,  they  held,  would  relieve  the  Republicans  of  the  charge 
of  sectionalism,  while  it  would  lessen  the  dangers  of  disunion. 

The  copy  of  this  book  owned  by  Lincoln  and  Herndon  — 
the  first  edition  —  is  now  before  me,  and  their  markings  are 
characteristic  of  the  two  men.  Lincoln,  while  noting  the  sig 
nificant  facts,  marked  for  disapproval  those  passages  pleading 
for  violence,1  some  of  which  Herndon  underscored  as  John 

belief  that  slave  labor  was  cheap  labor;  that  cotton  could  be  best  culti 
vated,  along  with  sugar  and  rice,  by  the  negro  —  notably  disseminated 
by  the  cotton  gin  —  sectionalized  and  commercialized  slavery,  and  made 
it  aggressive.  But  there  were  Southern  Abolitionists  from  the  first,  from 
John  L.  Wilson,  of  Sumter  County,  South  Carolina,  down;  and  when  the 
slave  conspiracy  became  militant  and  aggressive  there  was  a  constant 
stream  of  Southern  people  flowing  North  —  such  as  the  Eutledges  whom 
Lincoln  knew  at  New  Salem  —  to  get  away  from  it.  Some  day  the 
history  of  Southern  anti-slavery  sentiment  will  be  written,  and  it  will 
be  a  startling  revelation. 

i  For  example :  "Of  you,  the  introducers,  aiders,  and  abettors  of 
slavery,  we  demand  indemnification  for  the  damage  our  lands  have  sus 
tained  on  account  thereof.  The  amount  of  the  damage  is  $7,544,148,825; 
and  now,  Sirs,  we  are  ready  to  receive  the  money.  We  must  have  a  settle 
ment"  (p.  126).  "Do  you  aspire  to  become  the  victims  of  white  noli- 
slave-holding  vengeance  by  day  and  of  barbarous  massacre  by  negroes  at 
night?"  (p.  128).  "Out  of  our  effects  you  have  long  since  overpaid 
yourselves  for  your  slaves;  and  now,  Sirs,  you  must  emancipate  them,  or 


160  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Brown  might  have  done,  the  latter  erasing  a  few  of  his  more 
radical  markings.  Both  men  knew  that  the  Abolition  leaders 
of  the  North,  from  Lundy  the  Quaker,  to  Brown  of  Ossawa- 
tomie,  had  their  unknown  sympathizers  in  the  South,  though 
the  latter  were  struggling  in  vain  against  a  tyranny  even  more 
terrible  than  that  which  fettered  the  negro.  Southern  men 
saw  in  The  Impending  Crisis  a  premonition  of  an  attack  upon 
slavery  in  the  States  where  it  existed,  and  they  were  not  far 
from  right.  Lincoln  questioned  the  wisdom  of  its  gratuitous 
circulation  in  1859  for  the  same  reason. 

Later  in  the  month  we  find  Herndon  writing  to  Parker,  ex 
pressing  his  approval  of  two  sermons  on  religious  revivals,  and 
reporting  the  dickerings  of  Douglas  for  Republican  support 
in  Illinois.  Such  propositions  to  trade  served  only  to  confirm 
his  suspicions  and  to  redouble  his  vigilance : 

Springfield,  111.,  April  17,  1858. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Friend :  —  This  moment  I  received  your  two  ser 
mons  on  the  revivals  which  madded  the  people.  Revivals 
are  spasmodic ;  they  are  not  guided  by  reason  or  philosophy ; 
they  die  out,  leaving  the  soul  in  darkness.  Or  they  finally 
prepare  the  soul  for  a  true,  God-revival  guided  by  reason 
and  philosophy.  I  have  seen  too  much  and  too  many  of 
these  revivals  to  fear  them,  or  scarcely  respect  them.  I  love 
and  reverence  religion  with  my  whole  soul ;  it  is  as  deep  in 
me  as  my  being ;  but  spasmodic  feeling  is  not  religion.  It 
is  undeveloped  feeling,  and  I  respect  its  source.  The  first 
sermon  is  quite  appropriate  in  historical  allusion,  and  the 
second  sweeps  principles  generously  and  broadly ;  they  are 
both  excellent. 


we  will  emancipate  them  for  you"  (p.  129).  "Small-pox  is  a  nuisance; 
strychnine  is  a  nuisance ;  mad  dogs  are  a  nuisance ;  slavery  is  a  nuisance ; 
slave-holders  are  a  nuisance,  and  so  are  the  slave-breeders.  We  propose 
therefore,  with  the  exception  of  strychnine,  which  is  the  least  of  all  these 
nuisances,  to  exterminate  the  catalog  from  beginning  to  end"  (p.  139). 
"Indeed,  it  is  our  honest  conviction  that  all  the  pro-slavery  slave 
holders,  who  are  alone  responsible  for  the  continuance  of  this  baneful  in 
stitution  among  us,  deserve  to  be  at  once  reduced  to  a  parallel  with  the 
basest  criminals  that  lie  fettered  in  the  cells  of  public  prisons"  (p.  158). 
And  more  of  the  same  sort. 


161 


Friend,  I  am  indebted  to  you  very  much  —  more  than  I 
have  ever  told  you,  concerning  this  subject.  Your  guid 
ance  holds  me  steady,  calm,  and  I  look  up  to  God  with  hope, 
faith  philosophized,  knowing  that  what  He  has  made  he  has 
made  out  "of  a  perfect  material,  for  a  perfect  purpose,  and 
for  a  perfect  end,"  and  whose  eternal  life  and  laws  will 
lead  thereto.  There  may  be  some  special  thing  that  you 
and  I  may  differ  about,  but  that  makes  no  difference.  Nev 
er  mind  my  poor  letters,  as  they  are  always  written  in  a 
hurry  —  kind  of  Quakerish. 

Our  politics  are  getting  warm,  and  Douglas  sends  out 
feelers  to  us  to  trade,  but  as  yet  our  men  stand  firm.  Prop 
ositions  have  abundantly  been  made,  and  which  I  have  heard 
read.  They  do  not  purport  to  come  from  Douglas,  but  you 
know.  You  understand,  don't  you?  So  soon  as  I  get  a 
moment's  time  I  will  answer  yours  more  fully,  stating  some 
other  things  —  that  is,  what  I  saw  in  jail  at  Alexandria, 
Virginia,  etc.  Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

On  April  21st  the  Democratic  State  Convention  was  held  in 
Springfield,  and  Mr.  Herndon  was  a  spectator  of  its  proceed 
ings.  It  affirmed  that  by  sound  party  doctrine  the  Lecompton 
constitution  ought  to  be  "submitted  to  the  direct  vote  of  the 
actual  inhabitants  of  Kansas  at  a  fair  election. ' '  *  But  when 
resolutions  were  introduced  approving  the  course  of  Senator 
Douglas,  there  was  a  bolt.  The  bolters,  mostly  from  Chicago 
and  the  northern  part  of  the  State  —  many  of  them  Buchanan 
appointees  —  held  a  ' '  rump  ' '  assembly  in  another  room,  and 
called  a  convention  to  meet  in  Springfield  on  June  9th.  This 
closed  the  door  to  any  reconciliation  between  the  Douglas  and 
Buchanan  factions ;  there  was  to  be  war  to  the  hilt.  Mr.  Hern 
don  wrote : 

In  Court,  Springfield,  111.,  April  27,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  This  moment  I  received  the  Atlantic  Monthly, 
and  I  am  tired  of  the  Law.  Before  me,  and  just  between 
me  and  the  Judge,  stands  a  counsellor  who  is  twisting  up  his 
mind  into  knots  attempting  to  show  the  substantial  and  es 
sential  difference  between  a  traverse  whose  specific  qual 
ities  are  a  certainty  to  a  certain  extent  in  every  particular, 
and  one  whose  properties  only  require  certainty  to  a  common 

*  Life  of  Douglas,  by  J.  W.  Sheahan,  p.  394  (1860). 


162 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

extent  in  every  particular.  How  he  will  succeed  only 
' '  tweedle  dee  and  tweedle  dum  ' '  can  tell.  This  barbarism 
to  me  is  utterly  disgusting. 

I  picked  up  the  Atlantic,  and  my  eye  shot  to  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  the  very  first  thing,  and  there  I  saw  my  friend 
Parker  x  as  large  as  life  and  as  witty  and  philosophic  as 
ever.  I  shook  hands  with  him,  for  there  he  stood,  as  good- 
natured  and  as  kind  as  ever.  I  see  you  often  in  the  pulpit 
and  on  the  platform,  but  not  often  in  the  reviews.  I  think 
your  criticism  very  just  and  very  good.  I  have  heard,  seen, 
and  studied  Beecher.  His  mind  is  wholly  objective,  but 
quick  in  instincts  of  human  feeling.  He  is  strong  in  senti 
ment.  He  is  a  man  of  great  energy  and  endurance ;  he  is 
sagacious  but  not  philosophic.  I  have  not  read  the  book, 
but  my  wife  has.  I  have  no  time  now. 

We  had  a  great  double-headed  Democratic  meeting  here 
—  one  Buchanan  and  the  other  Douglas;  they  are  deeply 
inimical,  malicious,  and  withering  in  their  mutual  curses. 
Oh !  what  a  sight !  Plunderers  of  the  people  now  at  bloody 
war  with  each  other  over  the  spoils.  The  Douglas  conven 
tion  was  scary,  timid  and  frightened;  it  acted  cowardly. 
Buchanan's  was  brave,  manly,  courageous  in  its  hell-deep 
iniquity ;  it  was  Lucifer-like  in  act  and  deed,  and  we  in  Illi 
nois  anticipate  a  terrible  struggle.  Do  not  forget  that  it  is 
to  be  war  to  the  knife.  No  quarters  are  to  be  asked  or  given ; 
and  this  the  Republicans  have  unanimously  and  consider 
ately  pondered  and  agreed  to.  So  look  out  for  squalls. 

I  have  a  letter  this  day  from  Friend  Greeley;  his  talk 
about  Douglas  is  policy.  He  explains  and  tells  us  to  stand 
to  our  own  men  and  principles,  and  to  run  them,  and  none 
other  —  wants  Buchanan  men  beaten  more  than  Douglas 
men.  This  is  private.  Our  boys  here  did  not  like  G  reeley  'a 
course,  but  all  is  0.  K.  now. 

Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Douglas,  it  seems,  had  wavered  2  when  the  administration,  in 
its  infamous  li  English  Bill,"  had  offered  him  an  opportunity 
to  close  the  rift  and  unite  the  party.  Pugh  of  Ohio,  who  had 
stood  with  him  hitherto,  had  retreated  across  the  improvised 

1  The  reference  is  to  an  article  by  Mr.  Parker  reviewing  a  recent 
book,  Life  Thoughts  from  the  Discourses  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  a 
member  of  his  congregation. 

2  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  Johnson,  pp.  343-345  (1908). 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      163 

bridge,  and  Douglas  hesitated  what  to  do.  He  knew  that  the 
people  of  Kansas  would  vote  down  the  land  bribe,  but  he 
feared  that  he  could  not  convince  his  constituency  in  Illinois 
that  it  was  not  treacherous  to  yield.  Hence  the  attitude  of 
Greeley  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Herndon;  but  when  Douglas  de 
cided  to  stand  firm  Greeley  renewed  his  advice  to  the  Illinois 
Republicans.  Herndon  wrote  to  Parker : 

Springfield,  111.,  May  29, 1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir: — Yours  of  the  13th  is  before  me  and  in  an 
swer  to  which  let  me  say :  I  would  have  been  highly  pleased 
to  have  met  at  your  house  a  few  friends,  but  as  it  was  I  did 
not.  My  object  in  visiting  Boston  was  education,  and  the 
purposes  to  which  that  education  was  to  be  specially  ap 
plied  was  —  Liberty  speeches.  I  expect  to  be  a  Republican 
elector  in  1860.  I  wanted  to  see  the  places  of  Revolutionary 
memory,  and  the  three  living  institutions  of  Boston  —  Gar 
rison,  Parker,  and  Phillips.  So  that  when  I  wanted  to 
speak  of  things  I  could  talk  knowingly ;  and  when  such  men 
as  you  were  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  Republican  march,  for 
base  purposes,  and  by  mean  men  for  infamous  ends,  I  want 
ed  to  say  to  the  vile  slanderers,  ' '  You  lie ! "  It  is  all  right. 
I  do  not  complain,  though  I  must  say  that  I  was  somewhat 
disappointed.  Do  you  suppose  that  this  will  alter  my  re 
spect  for  you?  God  forbid!  You  know  me  to  little  pur 
pose  if  you  think  I  am  so  small  as  that.  Here  is  my  hand 
and  my  heart.  Let  this  matter  drop  from  your  fingers  into 
the  ocean. 

We  are  to  have  a  Republican  convention  here,  in  this  city, 
on  June  16th.  The  Buchanan  convention  comes  off  here  on 
June  7th.  We  expect  to  have  fun  at  the  latter.  Douglas, 
it  is  said,  is  to  be  crushed  by  the  Administration :  it  does  not 
look  that  way,  if  we  are  to  judge  from  what  has  lately  hap 
pened  in  Congress.  Friend  Greeley  seems  determined  that 
this  shall  not  be,  if  he  can  help  it,  though  he  sacrified  the 
Republicans  in  Illinois.  Politicians  will  use  other  people's 
paws  to  pull  the  chestnuts  out  of  the  fire.  Greeley  injures 
us  in  Illinois  while  he  is  trying  to  sustain  Douglas.  I  have 
made  two  political  speeches  since  I  saw  you  —  one  in  this 
city  and  one  at  Petersburg  —  took  high  grounds  for  Free 
dom.  Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 


164  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

On  the  following  day  Mr.  Herndon  received  a  letter  from 
Greeley,  in  reply  to  a  stinging  protest  against  the  interference 
of  the  latter  in  Illinois  politics.  If  the  Republicans  will  not 
support  Douglas  for  the  Senate,  he  hopes  they  will  stand  by 
Harris  for  the  House.  The  letter  reads : 

New  York,  May  29,  1858. 
Friend  Herndon: 

I  have  yours  of  the  7th.  I  have  not  proposed  to  instruct 
the  Republicans  of  Illinois  in  their  political  duties,  and  I 
doubt  very  much  that  even  so  much  as  is  implied  in  your 
letter  can  be  fairly  deduced  from  anything  I  have  written. 

Let  me  make  one  prediction.  If  you  run  a  candidate 
against  Harris  and  he  is  able  to  canvass,  he  will  beat  you 
badly.  He  is  more  of  a  man,  at  heart  and  morally,  than 
Douglas,  and  has  gone  into  the  fight  with  more  earnestness 
and  less  calculation.  Of  the  whole  Douglas  party,  he  is  the 
truest  and  best.  I  never  have  spoken  a  dozen  words  with 
him  in  my  life,  having  met  him  but  once ;  but  if  I  lived  in 
his  district  I  should  vote  for  him.  As  I  have  never  spoken 
of  him  in  my  paper,  and  suppose  I  never  shall,  I  take  the 
liberty  to  say  this  much  to  you.  Now  paddle  your  own  dug 
out.  Yours,  HORACE  GREELEY. 

If  he  had  actually  left  the  Illinois  Republicans  to  paddle  their 
own  canoe,  the  result  might  have  been  different  in  the  autumn, 
but  he  kept  on  tossing  logs  into  the  stream.  By  this  time  it 
had  been  determined  that  Lincoln  was  to  make  the  race  for  the 
Senate,  and,  in  the  picturesque  Illinois  phrase,  "  set  the  prai 
ries  afire  "  against  Douglas.  Herndon  wrote  to  Mr.  Parker 
describing  the  situation : 

Springfield,  111.,  June  1,  1858. 
Friend  Parker: 

I  want  to  talk  politics  with  you  a  moment,  leaving  all 
other  things  "  way  behind."  Do  you  remember,  when  I 
was  in  Boston,  I  told  you  that  Douglas  said,  "  Do  not  put 
any  confidence  in  what  Greeley  says  about  his  information 
in  relation  to  the  non-passage  of  the  Lecompton  constitu 
tion?  "  Has  not  Douglas  proved  a  prophet  once  in  his  vil 
lainous  life  ?  He  told  me  at  the  same  time  that  he  and  the 
Republicans  would  work  together,  soon,  on  some  moves  — 
that  is,  Cuba  and  Central  Mexican  affairs;  and  now  as  his 


THE  REVOLT  OF  DOUGLAS      165 

word  was  good  in  one  particular,  let  us  put  a  little  confi 
dence  in  "  Hell's  dread  prophet  "  on  this  assertion  of  his 
about  Cuba  and  Mexico.  This  is  a  great  world,  is  it  not,  my 
friend  ? 

We,  the  Republicans,  out  here  are  comparing  hands,  see 
ing  how  we  feel  and  stand,  so  that  we  may  go  into  the 
"  great  battle  "  of  1858-9  in  Illinois,  between  Slavery  and 
Freedom,  Douglas  and  Lincoln,  Democracy  and  Republican 
ism.  It  will  be  a  life  and  death  fight,  so  far  as  Democracy 
is  concerned.  If  she  goes  gurgling  down  beneath  the  red 
waves  of  slaughter,  she  is  gone  forever.  Not  so  with  Re 
publicanism;  she  is  young,  vital  and  energetic,  and  so  can 
survive  defeat  —  yea,  frown  on  it;  it  will  stiffen  her  back 
bone,  harden  her  pulpy  frame.  I  will  do  all  I  can  io  hold 
the  leader's  hands  up!  Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

So  matters  stood  on  the  eve  of  the  great  debates,  in  which 
Shiloh  was  fought  at  Ottawa  and  Gettysburg  at  Freeport.  Had 
Lincoln  been  a  guileless  Parsifal  in  politics,  as  so  many  have 
portrayed  him,  he  could  not  have  saved  his  party  in  that 
critical  hour  when  the  voices  of  expediency,  and  the  advice 
of  friends,  pleaded  for  a  lowering  of  the  ideal.  Still  less  could 
he  have  met  the  astute,  artful,  masterful  Douglas,  whose  re 
sourcefulness  was  only  surpassed  by  his  unctuous  and  per 
suasive  sophistry.  If  personal  ambition  played  its  part  with 
Lincoln,  as  it  has  with  all  men  great  and  small,  far  more  potent 
was  the  ambition  to  serve  the  truth  as  God  gave  him  to  see  it. 
Nor  did  any  man  ever  have  a  truer  partner,  a  more  faithful 
friend,  or  a  more  tireless  fellow-worker  than  Herndon. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Great  Debates 

So  much  has  been  written  of  the  Lincoln  and  Douglas  debates 
that  the  details  of  the  contest  are,  for  the  most  part,  familiar 
to  all.1  It  was  indeed  a  memorable  campaign,  alike  for  the 
importance  of  the  issues  involved  and  for  the  genius  and  skill 
of  the  debaters  —  though  to  the  nation  at  large,  as  compared 
with  his  opponent,  Lincoln  seemed,  in  1858,  to  emerge  sud 
denly  and  unexpectedly  from  a  profound  obscurity.  His  later 
fame  has  irradiated  every  detail  of  his  early  career;  but  it 
was  the  position  of  Senator  Douglas  in  national  affairs,  his 
revolt  from  his  party,  his  obvious  ambition  for  the  highest 
honors,  together  with  his  power  as  a  debater,  that  really  en 
chained  the  attention  of  the  nation.  One  must  needs  keep  this 
in  mind,  so  completely  has  the  perspective  of  time  reversed 
the  aspects  of  the  scene. 

Scarcely  less  interesting  than  the  debates  themselves  were 
the  preliminary  meetings,  the  manoeuvering  of  forces,  and  the 

i  Perhaps  the  best  individual  account  of  the  campaign  is  the  chapter 
contributed  by  Mr.  Horace  White  to  the  second  edition  of  the  Herndon 
and  Weik  biography  of  Lincoln,  in  1892  (Vol.  II,  Chap.  IV).  Mr.  White 
was  employed  as  correspondent  for  the  Chicago  Tribune,  then  called  the 
Press  and  Tribune,  and  wrote  from  notes  made  when  he  was  following 
the  debaters.  But  for  comprehensiveness  and  vividness  of  detail,  for 
careful  comparison  of  the  texts  of  the  speeches,  not  less  than  for  news 
paper  excerpts  reproducing  the  human  color  and  partisan  rancor  of  the 
contest,  The  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates,  edited  by  E.  E.  Sparks,  and  pub 
lished  under  the  auspices  of  the  Illinois  Historical  Society,  is  by  far 
the  best  portrayal  of  the  campaign.  (Collections  of  the  State  Historical 
Library  of  Illinois,  Vol.  Ill,  Lincoln  Series,  Vol.  I,  1908.)  The  speeches 
are  given  with  all  the  interruptions,  also  the  songs  and  slogans  of  the 
day,  together  with  editorial  fulminations,  descriptions  by  correspondents, 
local  scenes,  and  the  press  comment  throughout  the  country  —  all  with 
admirable  discrimination  and  impartiality. 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 167 

marshaling  of  ideas.  The  Democratic  convention,  which  met 
in  April,  was  a  poltroon  assembly,  as  Herndon  described  it  in 
his  letter  to  Parker.  Though  largely  attended  and  very  en 
thusiastic  in  its  speeches,  it  was  lamentably  weak  in  its  reso 
lutions,  endorsing  the  course  of  Douglas,  indeed,  but  express 
ing  not  the  slightest  disapproval  of  the  Buchanan  regime.  A 
motion  to  record  regret  at  the  course  of  the  Administration 
in  removing  the  friends  of  Douglas  from  office  in  the  State, 
was  promptly  tabled.  This  was  doubtless  on  the  advice  of 
Douglas  himself,  who  wished  to  avoid  open  rupture,  while 
leaving  the  door  ajar  for  a  possible  reconciliation.  Only  two 
offices  were  at  stake  —  State  Treasurer  and  the  Superintend- 
ency  of  Public  Instruction  —  and  W.  B.  Fondy  and  former 
Governor  French  were  named  for  those  posts.  After  which 
the  convention  adjourned  in  a  mood  of  contempt  for  the  bolt 
ers,  mingled  with  fear  lest  the  contagion  spread. 

Of  the  "  rump  "  convention  of  Buchanan  henchmen  in 
Springfield  on  June  9th,  little  need  be  said.  It  was  a  miserable 
farce,  representing  only  forty-eight  of  the  one  hundred  coun 
ties  in  the  State,  and,  as  the  Chicago  Times  added,  "  Consid 
ering  that  the  delegates  were  self-appointed,  and  that  offices 
under  the  federal  government  were  promised  to  all  who  would 
attend,  the  fact  that  in  fifty-two  counties  there  could  not  be 
found  men  mean  enough  to  participate  in  the  proceedings," 
was  a  tribute  to  Illinois.  Dougherty  and  Reynolds  were 
named  for  the  offices,  and  resolutions  were  adopted  denounc 
ing  Douglas  and  characterizing  his  fight  against  Buchanan 
as  "an  act  of  overweening  conceit."  John  C.  Breckenridge 
and  Daniel  S.  Dickinson  had  been  announced  as  speakers,  but 
neither  of  them  appeared.  But  a  telegram  was  read  from 
Dickinson,  sending  "  a  thousand  greetings,"  and  this,  as  the 
Douglas  men  said,  was  surely  liberal  enough,  being  about  ten 
to  each  delegate.  Aside  from  its  disclosure  of  disgustingly 
dirty  methods  in  politics,  including  lying,  bribery,  and  under 
handed  skunkishness,  this  movement  cut  very  little  figure  in 
the  campaign. 


168  LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 


As  the  date  of  the  Republican  convention  approached,  Lincoln 
became  solitary  and  even  sad.  Knowing  that  he  was  to  be 
named  as  the  standard-bearer  of  his  party,  and  knowing  that  it 
was  a  time  of  crisis  both  for  himself  and  his  cause,  he  was  much 
alone  with  his  thoughts,  pondering  what  to  do.  Herndon  knew 
the  moods  of  his  partner  —  his  profound  abstraction,  his  fits 
of  silence  and  gloom  —  and  he  respected  them  to  the  utmost. 
When  he  saw  that  long,  gaunt  figure  sitting  for  hours  in  the 
corner  of  the  office,  his  chair  tilted  against  the  wall,  his  hands 
clasped  about  his  knees,  his  head  bowed,  apparently  uncon 
scious  of  all  that  was  going  on,  he  did  not  intrude.  This  time, 
however,  abstraction  and  melancholy  seemed  to  be  blended, 
and  the  younger  man  watched  the  outcome  with  solicitude. 

Slowly  and  sadly  the  thinker  reviewed  in  his  mind  the  his 
tory  of  slavery  aggression,  beginning  with  the  effort  made  to 
denounce  the  King  of  Great  Britain  for  establishing  slavery 
in  the  colonies,  which  the  fathers  sought  to  include  in  the  list 
of  grievances  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Even  then 
there  were  protests  from  the  South,  and  that  paragraph  had 
to  be  stricken  out.  That  was  the  first  concession  to  the  Slave 
Power.  Multitudes  of  concessions  had  followed  through  the 
years,  each  one  granting  some  special  privilege  to  the  Slave 
States,  which  had  only  served  to  whet  their  appetites  for 
more.  Gradually  the  feeling  that  slavery  was  an  evil  to  be 
tolerated  had  given  way,  for  economic  reasons,  to  the  feeling 
that  it  was  a  necessary  institution  to  be  fostered.  All  down 
the  years  it  had  rested  like  a  pall  upon  the  republic  —  present 
at  all  disagreements,  making  a  fear  and  a  reservation  in  all 
public  gatherings,  holding  the  best  emotions  and  the  widest 
patriotism  in  thrall.  At  last  it  had  become  boldly,  insolently, 
defiantly  aggressive,  brandishing  a  threat  of  disunion  when 
ever  its  advance  was  impeded. 

With  the  renewal  of  the  agitation  in  1854,  almost  every 
variety  of  opinion  had  come  to  exist  among  the  people  respect 
ing  slavery  and  the  future  of  the  Union;  for  all  divined  that 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 169 

the  two  were  vitally  related.  Some  were  for  freedom,  im 
mediate  and  universal,  regardless  of  the  Union,  and  some  in 
the  same  way  were  for  slavery.  Others  were  for  the  Union, 
regardless  of  slavery  or  freedom;  while  still  others  foresaw  a 
Union  in  which  universal  freedom,  if  not  a  present  blessing, 
would  be,  at  least,  an  assured,  albeit  distant,  hope  and  proph 
ecy.  This  last  class,  to  which  Lincoln  belonged,  held  that 
by  restricting  the  cause  of  discord  the  Union  might  be  steered 
safely  between  abolitionism  and  perpetual  slavery,  to  its 
proper  destiny.  But  the  signs  of  such  a  destiny  were  not 
propitious.  By  the  terms  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision  all  bar 
riers  had  been  thrown  down,  all  restraint  removed,  and  it 
needed  but  one  further  decision  to  make  it  unlawful  for  any 
State  to  exclude  slavery.  Whatever  others  thought,  for  Lin 
coln  the  hour  had  come  to  challenge  this  advance  of  slavery; 
and  he  felt  himself  to  be  the  man  for  the  hour. 

Having  thought  the  problem  through  from  end  to  end,  he 
began  to  write,  following  his  curious  custom  of  jotting  down 
notes  on  bits  of  paper  and  depositing  them  in  his  hat.  He  was 
never  a  ready  writer,  like  Herndon,  least  of  all  on  an  occasion 
such  as  this,  when  each  word  had  to  be  carefully  weighed  in 
the  balances  of  truth  and  propriety.  Mr.  Herndon  divined 
what  he  was  doing,  but  did  not  ask  any  question  or  make  any 
suggestion.  It  was  his  speech  accepting  the  nomination  for 
the  Senate ;  and  when  he  began  to  transcribe  it  in  orderly  form 
he  became  more  cheerful,  but  not  more  communicative.  "When 
he  had  finished  the  final  draft  of  the  speech,  he  locked  the 
door  of  the  office,  drew  the  curtain  across  the  glass  panel  in 
the  door,  and  read  it  to  Herndon,  pausing  at  the  end  of  each 
paragraph  to  await  comment.  Together  they  discussed  the 
speech,  sentence  by  sentence,  though  only  the  first  paragraph, 
including  the  figure  of  the  house  divided  against  itself,  caused 
any  question.  Often  he  had  used  it  in  office  conversation,  but 
never  before  in  public,  except  at  Bloomington  in  1856,  when 
Judge  T.  Lyle  Dickey  pronounced  it  a  "  d fool  utter 
ance.  ' '  Remembering  that  incident,  Mr.  Herndon  remarked : 


170 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

"  It  is  true,  but  is  it  wise  or  politic  to  say  so?  "    To  which 
Lincoln  replied : x 

That  expression  is  a  truth  of  all  human  experience,  "a 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  The  proposi 
tion  is  also  true,  and  has  been  true  for  six  thousand  years. 
I  want  to  use  some  universally  known  figure  expressed  in 
simple  language  as  universally  well  known,  that  may  strike 
home  to  the  minds  of  men  in  order  to  raise  them  up  to  the 
peril  of  the  times.  I  do  not  believe  I  would  be  right  in 
changing  or  omitting  it.  I  would  rather  be  defeated  with 
this  expression  in  the  speech,  and  uphold  and  discuss  it  be 
fore  the  people,  than  be  victorious  without  it." 

Against  such  a  spirit,  with  its  disregard  of  personal  conse 
quences,  Herndon  had  no  heart  to  protest,  though  he  felt  like 
doing  so,  for  he  was  naturally  anxious  for  Lincoln  to  win.  Here 
was  true  leadership,  lifting  still  higher  the  very  ideal  which 
the  party  leaders  in  the  East  were  even  then  seeking  to  lower. 
Although  his  mind  was  firmly  made  up,  Lincoln  called  a 
caucus  of  his  friends  in  the  library  of  the  State  House  and 
read  the  speech  to  them,  as  he  had  read  it  to  Herndon.  One 
by  one  they  pronounced  it  too  radical,  predicting  that  it  meant 
defeat  in  that  it  gave  Douglas  just  the  opportunity  he  coveted, 
while  at  the  same  time  it  would  alienate  many  Anti-Lecompton 
Democrats.  They  pointed  out  that  the  situation  was  different 
from  what  it  was  in  1854,  for  though  he  had  missed  the  vic 
tory  itself  at  that  time,  the  fruits  of  the  victory  had  accrued 
to  the  cause  in  the  election  of  Trumbull;  whereas  now  both 
the  victory  and  its  fruits  would  be  lost  to  Douglas,  whom  they 
were  so  eager  to  defeat.  Not  one  endorsed  the  wisdom  of  mak 
ing  the  speech  except  Herndon,  who,  after  listening  to  these 
protests,  exclaimed :  ' '  Lincoln,  deliver  that  speech  as  read,  and 
it  will  make  you  President ! "  So  he  reports  himself  foretell 
ing,  though  the  prophecy  is  weakened  somewhat  by  the  fact 
that  it  was  recorded  some  years  after  the  marvelous  fulfilment. 
But  there  is  no  doubt  that  Herndon  strongly  backed  his  part 
ner  in  this  move,  as  in  all  others  of  like  kind;  for  it  was  his 
mission  to  embody  the  ever-present  moral  protest  against  slav- 
1  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  II,  p.  67. 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 171 

ery,  and  he  did  not  fail  to  keep  this  side  of  the  question  alive 
in  the  soul  of  his  friend.1 

But  none  of  these  things  moved  Lincoln.  After  listening 
to  his  friends,  he  rose  from  his  chair  and  made  a  brief  talk  in 
which,  after  alluding  to  the  thought  and  care  with  which  he 
had  prepared  the  speech,  he  replied  to  all  objections  by  saying 
that  the  time  had  come  when  those  sentiments  should  be  ut 
tered,  and  added:  "If  it  is  decreed  that  I  should  go  down 
because  of  this  speech,  then  let  me  go  down  linked  to  the 
truth  —  let  me  die  in  the  advocacy  of  what  is  just  and  right." 
Dr.  William  Jayne,  who  was  present  at  this  conference,  gives 
a  fuller  report  of  the  remarks  of  Lincoln,  adding  to  other 
versions  the  following,  which  has  every  mark  of  authenticity : 

I  regret  that  my  friend  Herndon  is  the  only  man  among  you 
who  coincides  with  my  views  and  purposes  of  the  propriety 
of  making  this  speech;  but  I  have  determined  in  my  own 
mind  to  make  this  speech,  and  in  arriving  at  this  determina 
tion  I  cheerfully  admit  to  you  that  I  am  moved  to  this  pur 
pose  by  the  noble  sentiments  expressed  in  those  beautiful 
lines  of  William  Cullen  Bryant  in  his  poem  on  "The  Battle 
field."  (He  then  quoted  six  verses,  emphasizing  this  one: 

Nor  heed  the  shaft  too  surely  cast, 
The  foul  and  hissing  bolt  of  scorn ; 

For  with  thy  side  shall  dwell  at  last 
The  victory  of  endurance  born.) 

Continuing,  he  said:  I  am  aware  that  many  of  our 
friends,  and  all  of  our  political  enemies,  will  say  like  Scipio 
I  am  ' '  carrying  the  war  into  Africa ;  ' '  but  that  is  an  inci 
dent  of  politics  which  none  of  us  can  help,  but  it  is  an  in 
cident  which  in  the  long  run  will  be  forgotten  and  ignored. 
We  believe  that  every  human  being,  whatever  may  be  his 
color,  is  born  free,  and  that  every  human  soul  has  an  in 
alienable  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
The  Apostle  Paul  said,  "The  just  shall  live  by  faith." 
This  doctrine,  laid  down  by  St.  Paul,  was  taken  up  by  the 
greatest  reformer  of  the  Christian  era,  Martin  Luther,  and 
was  adhered  to  with  a  vigor  and  fidelity  never  surpassed 
until  it  won  a  supreme  victory,  the  benefits  and  advantages 
of  which  we  are  enjoying  today. 


Abraham  Lincoln,  by  D.  J.  Snider,  p.  405   (1908). 


172 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

I  lay  down  these  propositions  in  the  speech  I  propose  to 
make  and  risk  the  chance  of  winning  a  seat  in  the  United 
States  Senate  because  I  believe  the  propositions  are  true, 
and  that  ultimately  we  shall  live  to  see,  as  Bryant  says, 
''The  victory  of  endurance  born."  : 

On  June  16th,  the  Republican  State  convention  assembled 
in  Springfield,  and  it  was  an  enthusiastic  body.  Nearly  six 
hundred  delegates  were  present,  and  they,  with  their  alter 
nates,  completed  a  round  thousand  of  earnest  men,  gathered 
from  all  parts  of  the  State.2  Aside  from  the  Senatorial  ques 
tion,  there  was  but  little  interest  in  the  proceedings.  Gustave 
Koerner  was  made  chairman  by  unanimous  vote — a  reward,  as 
he  frankly  confessed,  for  having  written  the  article  dissecting 
Douglas  for  the  Anzeiger  des  West  ens  six  months  before.3 
James  Miller  and  Newton  Bateman  were  named  for  the  two 
offices  to  be  filled,  emphatic  approval  was  given  to  the  course 
of  Senator  Trumbull,  and  a  series  of  resolutions  was  adopted 
as  a  platform.  As  only  the  members  of  the  Legislature  were 
to  be  elected,  the  convention  was  ready  to  adjourn,  but  a 
thrilling  incident  delayed  it.  Delegates  from  Cook  County 
appeared  with  a  banner  upon  which  was  inscribed,  "Cook 
County  for  Abram  Lincoln  for  United  States  Senator ! ' '  Evi 
dently  this  had  been  carefully  planned  and  well  timed,  for 
Norman  Judd,  in  a  very  happy  address,  referred  to  the  sig 
nificance  of  this  banner.  Whereupon  a  delegate  from  Peoria 
arose,  and,  waving  a  flag  on  which  was  printed  the  word  ' '  Illi 
nois,"  moved  that  it  be  nailed  over  "Cook  County,"  making 
the  banner  read, ' '  Illinois  for  Abraham  Lincoln !  ' '  And  it  was 
so  done,  amidst  cheers  three  times  three  and  three  extra,  after 
which  a  resolution  was  adopted  declaring : 

That  Abraham  Lincoln  is  our  first  and  only  choice  for  Unit 
ed  States  Senator  to  fill  the  vacancy  about  to  be  created  by 
the  retirement  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas/' 


1  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Win.  Jayne,  pp.  42-3  (1908). 

2  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  J.  G.  Holland,  p.  159   (1866). 

s  Memoirs  of  Gustave  Koerner,  Vol.  II,  pp.  56-7   (1909). 
4  Just  when  Lincoln  began  to  dream  of  the  Presidency  is  not  definitely 
known;   but  almost  certainly  not  until  after  his  debates  with  Douglas. 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 173 

This  direct  nomination  of  Lincoln  was  unusual,  as  if  the 
election  of  a  Senator  were  to  be  decided  by  popular  vote; 
but  many  things  lay  behind  it.  That  all  present  were  em 
barrassed  by  persistent  hints  of  a  coalition  with  Douglas,  there 
is  no  question.  It  was  not  according  to  the  wish  of  many  of 
the  delegates  to  make  such  a  formal  nomination,  yet,  as  Doug 
las  had  intimated  that  it  was  the  intention  to  use  the  name  of 
Lincoln  in  the  canvass,  and  to  adopt  another  name  in  the  Leg 
islature,  all  precedents  were  cast  aside.1  Hence  this  ringing 
resolution,  with  its  emphasis  upon  ' '  our  first  and  only  choice, ' ' 
which  not  only  hushed  the  busy  rumors  of  fusion,  but  put  the 
political  life  of  Douglas  in  jeopardy  from  that  hour.  Thence 
forth  not  only  the  issues,  but  the  personalities  of  the  campaign 
stood  out  clearly  defined,  and  this  added  zest  to  the  contest. 
Still,  as  we  shall  see,  Douglas,  while  dealing  in  denunciation 
on  the  stump,  continued  to  dicker  with  Republican  leaders  out 
side  the  State  to  the  end. 

In  the  evening  the  hall  of  the  State  House  was  packed  to 
excess  awaiting  the  speech  of  Lincoln,  which  inspired  more 
of  fear  among  his  friends  than  among  his  foes.  Today  those 
solemn  opening  words  rise  up  before  us  and  march  with  the 
foot-fall  of  destiny,  and  even  to  the  men  who  heard  them,  on 
that  summer  evening,  they  seemed  heavy  with  awful  proph 
ecies.  If  radicalism  means  rootedness,  then  Lincoln  went  as 
straight  as  a  line  of  light  to  the  root  of  the  national  discord, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  saved  his  party  from  apostasy  and 
ruin.  Slowly  and  impressively  he  read  his  speech,  beginning 
after  the  manner  of  Webster  in  his  reply  to  Hayne,  which  had 
served  him  as  a  model : 

If  we  could  first  know  where  we  are,  and  whither  we  are 
tending,  we  could  better  judge  what  to  do,  and  how  to  do 
it.  We  are  now  far  into  the  fifth  year,  since  a  policy  was 


During  this  convention  a  poll  of  the  delegates  was  taken  to  ascertain 
their  preference  for  President,  and  the  name  of  Lincoln  was  not  in  the 
list  of  favorites,  though  Trumbull  received  a  number  of  votes.  Seward 
led,  and  other  names  mentioned  were  Fremont,  McLean,  Chase,  and 
Bissell. 

iLife  of  Lincoln,  by  J.  G.  Holland,  p.  160  (1866). 


174 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

initiated  with  the  avowed  object  and  confident  promise  of 
putting  an  end  to  slavery  agitation.  Under  the  operation 
of  that  policy,  that  agitation  has  not  only  not  ceased,  but 
has  constantly  augmented.  In  my  opinion,  it  will  not  cease, 
until  a  crisis  shall  have  been  reached  and  passed.  "A 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  I  believe  this 
government  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half 
free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved  —  I  do  not 
expect  the  house  to  fall  —  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be 
divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing,  or  all  the  other. 
Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further 
spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind  shall  rest 
in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction ; 
or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward,  till  it  shall  become 
alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new  —  North  as 
well  as  South.1 

From  one  point  of  view  this  paragraph  was  a  tactical  blun 
der,  but  time  proved  that  his  straightforwardness  was,  after 
all,  the  best  strategy.  Indeed,  the  speech  was  more  remark 
able  for  its  conservatism  than  for  its  radicalism,  since  it  did 
not  demand  the  abolition  of  slavery,  but  only  a  restriction  of 
the  evil  within  the  original  limit  assigned  to  it,  in  the  hope 
that  it  would  finally  disappear.  Of  course  he  did  not  foresee 
how  Douglas  would  so  twist  his  words  as  to  make  it  appear 
that  he  Avas  foisting  the  alternatives  of  a  divided  Union  or  a 
uniformity  of  custom;  "all  one  thing  or  all  the  other.'' 
Neither  idea  had  been  in  his  mind,  nor  did  he  set  any  date 
when  slavery  would  at  last  cease  to  be.  All  else  was  left  out 
of  mind  in  his  attempt  to  focus  attention  upon  the  spread  of 
slavery  as  the  cause  of  discord,  and  a  threat  of  disunion. 

i  Of  course  this  idea  was  not  new.  Beecher,  Parker,  and  others  had 
used  similar  expressions  at  various  times  in  the  North.  Four  months 
later  Mr.  Seward,  in  his  famous  Rochester  speech,  October  25,  summed 
up  the  situation  as  "an  irrepressible  conflict,"  and  his  phrase  became 
a  slogan,  while  the  New  York  Herald  denounced  him  as  "an  arch  agi 
tator  of  a  bloody  program."  —  Life  of  Seward,  by  Frederick  Bancroft, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  461-3  (1900).  Even  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  which  Lincoln 
read  regularly,  had  said  something  of  the  kind  as  early  as  1856  (Consti 
tutional  History,  by  Von  Hoist,  Vol.  VI,  p.  299),  and  Wade  had  told  the 
Senate  that  ' '  Slavery  must  now  become  general,  or  it  must  cease  to  be 
at  all."  —  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  J.  T.  Morse,  Vol.  I,  p.  119  (1896). 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 175 

Reviewing  recent  history,  he  defined  "squatter  sovereign 
ty"  as  a  doctrine  which  said  that  "If  any  one  man  choose  to 
enslave  another  no  third  man  shall  be  allowed  to  object."  All 
that  Douglas  demanded,  as  the  vital  issue  of  his  campaign, 
was  that  Kansas  should  have  a  fair  vote  on  the  Lecompton 
constitution.  But,  as  Lincoln  showed,  the  issue  upon  the  Le 
compton  constitution  was  one  of  fact,  whose  solution  one  way 
or  the  other  left  unsettled  the  real  question  whether  slavery 
should  be  restricted  or  whether  it  should  be  left  free  to  ex 
tend  itself.  Nor  was  Douglas  the  man  to  settle  this  question, 
for  he  had  declared  in  the  Senate  that  he  did  not  care  whether 
slavery  was  voted  up  or  down.  Putting  recent  events  to 
gether,  Lincoln  charged  the  Democracy  with  a  conspiracy  to 
make  slavery  universally  lawful.  This  conspiracy  began  with 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compact,  and  had  been  consum 
mated,  so  far  as  the  Territories  were  concerned,  by  the  Dred 
Scott 1  decision,  which  declared  the  extension  of  slavery  to 
be  an  indispensable  condition  of  the  maintenance  of  the  Union. 
Only  one  thing  was  needed  to  complete  the  intrigue,  and  that 
was  a  decision  affirming  the  same  to  be  true  of  the  States. 
Nor  did  he  hesitate  to  predict  that  such  a  decision  would  be 
forthcoming,  unless  the  present  dynasty  were  overthrown. 

All  through  his  speech,  it  was  plain  that  Lincoln  feared  the 
influence  of  Greeley  hardly  less  than  the  devices  of  Douglas. 
Nor  was  this  fear  without  a  basis,  for  the  New  York  Tribune 
was  read  all  over  Illinois,  especially  in  the  northern  and  cen 
tral  parts  —  many  farmers,  it  was  said,  waiting  until  the  paper 

i  The  convention  which  nominated  Lincoln  had  expressed  ' '  con 
demnation  of  the  principles  and  tendencies  of  the  extra-judicial  opinions 
of  the  majority  of  the  judges,"  as  putting  forth  a  "  political  heresy." 
—  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  J.  G.  Holland,  p.  159  (1866).  Before  that  S.  P. 
Chase  had  said  that,  if  the  courts  would  not  overthrow  the  pro-slavery 
construction  of  the  Constitution,  the  people  would  do  so,  even  if  it  should 
' '  be  necessary  to  overthrow  the  courts. ' '  —  Life  of  Chase,  by  E.  B. 
Warden,  p.  313  (1874).  Many  anti-slavery  men  never  did  forgive  Judge 
Taney  for  his  decision  in  the  Dred  Scott  case.  When  he  died,  in  1864, 
Summer  made  protest  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  against  paying  him  the 
usual  honors  accorded  to  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court. —  Twenty  Years 
of  Congress,  by  J.  G.  Elaine,  Vol.  I,  pp.  135-6  (1884). 


176 LINCOLN  AND  HERNPON 

came  to  know  their  political  opinions.  Despite  the  repeated 
protests  of  Herndon  and  others,  Greeley  persisted  in  lauding 
Douglas  for  his  fight  against  Buchanan,  intimating  that  he 
might  be  the  pilot,  raised  up  by  fate,  to  steer  the  ship  of  state 
safely  between  the  Scylla  of  abolitionism  and  the  Charybdis 
of  perpetual  slavery.  Hence  the  closing  remarks  of  Lincoln : 

There  are  those  who  denounce  us  openly  to  their  own 
friends,  yet  whisper  to  us  softly,  that  Senator  Douglas  is  the 
aptest  instrument  there  is  to  effect  that  object.  They  wish 
us  to  infer  all,  from  the  fact  that  he  now  has  a  little  quarrel 
with  the  present  head  of  the  dynasty ;  and  that  he  has  reg 
ularly  voted  with  us  on  a  single  point,  upon  which  he  and 
we  have  never  differed.  They  remind  us  that  he  is  a  great 
man,  and  that  the  largest  of  us  are  very  small  ones.  Let 
this  be  granted.  But  "a  living  dog  is  better  than  a  dead 
lion. ' '  Judge  Douglas,  if  not  a  dead  lion  for  this  work,  is 
at  least  a  caged  and  toothless  one.  How  can  he  oppose  the 
advances  of  slavery?  He  doesn't  care  anything  about  it. 
His  avowed  mission  is  impressing  the  "public  heart"  to 
care  nothing  about  it.  .  .  .  For  years  he  has  labored  to 
prove  it  a  sacred  right  of  white  men  to  take  negro  slaves 
into  the  new  Territories.  .  .  .  Senator  Douglas  holds,  we 
know,  that  a  man  may  rightfully  be  wiser  to-day  than  he 
was  yesterday  —  that  he  may  rightfully  change  when  he 
finds  himself  wrong.  But  can  we,  for  that  reason,  run 
ahead,  and  infer  that  he  will  make  any  particular  change, 
of  which  he,  himself,  has  given  no  intimation  ?  .  .  .  Now, 
as  ever,  I  wish  not  to  misrepresent  Judge  Douglas's  posi 
tion,  question  his  motives,  or  do  aught  that  can  be  person 
ally  offensive  to  him.  Whenever,  if  ever,  he  and  we  can 
come  together  on  principle,  so  that  our  cause  may  have  as 
sistance  from  his  great  ability,  I  hope  to  have  interposed 
no  adventitious  obstacle.  But  clearly,  he  is  not  with  us  — 
he  does  not  pretend  to  be  —  he  does  not  promise  ever  to  be. 
Our  cause,  then,  must  be  intrusted  to,  and  conducted  by, 
its  own  undoubted  friends  —  those  whose  hands  are  free, 
whose  hearts  are  in  the  work  —  who  do  care  for  the  re 
sult.  ...  If  we  stand  firm,  we  shall  not  fail.  Wise  coun 
sels  may  accelerate,  or  mistakes  delay  it,  but,  sooner  or 
later,  the  victory  is  sure  to  come. 

But,  judging  from  the  feeling  among  the  delegates  following 
this  speech,  the  victory  on  such  a  platform  was  sure  to  be 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 177 

late  in  coining.  Leonard  Swett  and  others  boldly  predicted 
defeat  from  the  outset,  while  Judge  Dickey  was  chagrined 
that  Lincoln,  on  so  important  an  occasion,  had  "worked  in 

that  d fool  utterance."     Even  so  stalwart  and  noble  a 

man  as  E.  B.  Washburne,  who  had  thought  it  unwise  to  nom 
inate  Lincoln  l  —  still  clinging  to  the  belief  that  Douglas  was 
at  heart  an  anti-slavery  man,  and  one  to  be  trusted  —  held  that 
the  speech  was  fatal.  Many  were  of  this  opinion  all  through 
the  campaign,  and  in  Springfield  it  made  Lincoln  quite  un 
popular,  though  it  must  be  said  that  he  had  not  been  a  favor 
ite  in  his  own  city  since  1856.  But  now,  however,  there  were 
new  cold  shoulders  turned  toward  him,  including  some  of  those 
who  were  afterwards  so  proud  to  speak  of  him  as  "  our  rela 
tive,  ' '  which  he  was  by  marriage.2 

Nothing  daunted,  Lincoln  and  Herndon  set  about  prepar 
ing  for  the  campaign.  Each  made  for  himself  a  little  pocket 
scrap-book,  in  which  they  pasted  such  clippings  from  the 
papers  as  they  wished  to  use,  and  noted  down  dates,  facts,  and 
other  items  of  value.  One  has  only  to  go  through  these  little 
books,  both  of  which  are  owned  by  Jesse  W.  Weik,  to  see 
how  carefully  they  armed  themselves  with  data,  how  closely 
they  had  studied  the  speeches  of  Douglas,  and  how  alert  they 
were  in  making  "the  little  dodger"  undo  himself  in  his  own 
words ;  and  it  was  from  his  scrap  book  that  Lincoln  did  most 
of  his  reading  on  the  stump.  Two  days  after  the  convention 
Mr.  Herndon  sent  a  copy  of  the  "fatal"  speech  to  Theodore 
Parker,  with  a  note  telling  him  that  "'the  convention  was  the 
largest  and  best  ever  held  in  the  State  —  more  talent  and  more 
virtue."  Parker  replied  at  once,  rejoicing  that  Douglas  was 
doomed  to  fall  between  stools : 

Newton  Center,  Mass.,  July  1,  1858. 
Mr.  Herndon. 

My  Dear  Sir : — Many  thanks  for  your  letter  and  for  the 
admirable  speech  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  think  I  shall  congrat 
ulate  you  on  his  Senatorial  dignity  next  winter.  Douglas 
has  made  a  great  mistake.  Had  he  gone  clear  over  to  the 


1  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  W.  H.  Lamon,  pp.  395-6   (1872). 

2  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  W.  H.  Lamon,  pp.  407-8   (1872). 


178 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

Republican  platform,  confessed  his  sins  and  asked  pardon, 
the  generous  people  would  have  forgiven.  But  now  he  is 
neither  Republican  nor  Democrat.  It  seems  to  me  he  is  in 
a  bad  position,  whence  I  see  no  retreat  or  advance.  Never 
think  of  praising  me  for  what  I  said,  and  so  oblige, 

Yours  truly,  THEO.  PARKER. 

II 

Many  things  during  this  campaign  lend  color  to  the  belief 
that,  from  the  first,  Lincoln  had  little  hope  of  being  actually 
elected.  No  one  knew  better  than  he  the  precariousness  of 
his  prospects,  and  the  reasons  were  succinctly  stated  by  J.  L. 
Scripps,  his  first  biographer.  The  sympathy  entertained  for 
Douglas  by  prominent  Republicans  in  other  parts  of  the  coun 
try;  the  odor  of  free-soil  which  he  had  collected  in  his  gar 
ments  during  the  recent  session  of  Congress,  notwithstanding 
his  obstinate  and  blind  adherence  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision; 
the  universal  favor  to  which  he  had  been  commended  by  the 
persecutions  of  the  Administration;  the  flagrant  apportion 
ment  of  the  State  into  legislative  districts,  by  which  ninety- 
three  thousand  people  in  the  Republican  counties  were  virtual 
ly  disfranchised  —  all  these  things  combined  to  give  a  very  un 
promising  complexion  to  the  campaign.1  Of  this  last  obstacle 
Mr.  Herndon  spoke  in  his  reply  to  Parker,  expressing  doubt 
as  to  the  outcome  : 

Springfield,  111.,  July  8,  1858. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Friend: — I  thank  you  for  yours  of  July  1st,  and 
agree  with  you  that  Douglas  has  blundered.  We  feel  that 
he  has  committed  great  faults,  and  cannot  ever  recover 
therefrom.  He  is  dead.  Had  we  a  fair  apportionment  in 
this  State  we  Republicans  could  beat  him  twenty  on  joint 
ballot;  but  as  it  is,  the  apportionment  having  been  made 
when  we  were  very  young  and  wild  —  not  so  densely  pop 
ulated  as  now  —  he  may  defeat  us.  There  are  some  com 
plications,  which  it  would  take  too  long  to  explain,  that 
hinder  us.  Some  old  Senators,  elected  long  ago,  hold  over, 


''•Life  of  Lincoln,  by  J.  L.  Scripps;  New  York  Tribune  Tracts,  No 
6,  p.  24  (1860). 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 179 

and  whose  districts  have  been  revolutionized:  they  belong 
to  the  Republicans,  but  there  is  no  way  of  reaching  the 
evil.  Time  will  set  us  right,  and  give  us  our  rights.  Our 
State  ticket  will  be  elected  without  much  trouble;  but  as 
to  Lincoln  there  may  be  some  doubts.  These  doubts  will 
energize  us,  fire  us,  move  us. 

Mr.  Lincoln 's  speech  is  quite  compact,  nervous,  eloquent ; 
it  is  the  best  expression  of  Republicanism,  as  at  present  or 
ganized,  that  I  have  seen.  Stump  orators  will  take  higher 
and  more  lofty  grounds.  Prudence  is  written  all  over  the 
political  world,  and  we  cannot  help  it.  Do  not  blame  us 
for  not  jumping  higher  just  now.  Remember  your  great 
law  of  the  historic  continuity  of  the  development  of  ideas, 
and  then  you  will  say,  "  All  is  right." 

Douglas  is  not  a  Democrat:  he  is  not  a  Republican:  he 
is  nowhere.  Do  you  remember  my  former  letters?  He  is 
trying  to  build  up  a  third  party,  or  trying  to  re-organize 
one  out  of  the  fragmentary  elements,  North  and  South. 
He  is  crazy:  God  has  made  His  organizations  and  Douglas 
cannot  unmake  them.  Thank  God  for  your  speech  —  have 
re-read  it :  it  is  quite  good. 

Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Meanwhile,  Douglas  had  been  resting  in  the  East,  visiting  his 
mother,  and,  it  was  said,  gathering  the  sinews  of  war.  Hav 
ing  matured  his  plans,  he  returned  to  Chicago  on  the  9th  of 
July,  where  his  followers  had  arranged  a  royal  reception  for 
him.  On  his  way  thither,  he  was  met  by  a  delegation  of  his 
friends  at  Michigan  City  who  took  him  captive  and  conducted 
him  on  a  special  train  to  his  destination.  He  entered  the  city 
amid  the  booming  of  cannon  and  the  fluttering  of  flags,  and 
was  accompanied  to  the  Tremont  House  by  a  military  escort. 
From  balconies  and  windows  along  the  streets  the  shouts  of 
thousands  echoed  in  his  ears.  More  flattering,  if  possible, 
was  the  immense  throng  that  gathered  about  the  hotel  in  the 
evening  to  hear  his  promised  speech.  Douglas  was  highly 
gratified,  remembering  his  former  reception,  and  indeed  a  man 
of  far  less  vanity  would  have  been  moved  by  such  a  scene. 
In  a  skilful  speech,  egotistical  at  times  to  the  point  of  brag 
gadocio,  he  opened  the  campaign.  Knowing  that  he  was  in  a 
Republican  stronghold,  he  dwelt  with  elaborate  complacency, 


180  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

which  was  perhaps  pardonable,  upon  his  brave  and  manly 
fight  against  a  hated  Administration  in  its  effort  to  fetter 
Kansas.  But  he  claimed  an  equal  victory  over  the  Repub 
licans  in  Congress,  since  they  had  voted  for  the  Crittenden- 
Montgomery  bill,  which  permitted  Kansas  to  decide  for  itself 
whether  it  would  have  slavery  or  freedom.  Such  repeated 
triumphs  of  the  sacred  principle  of  "popular  sovereignty" 
led  the  speaker  naturally  from  self-glorification  to  prophecy, 
and  he  predicted  that  the  Republicans  would  soon  come  over 
to  his  side,  as  many  of  them  had  already  done,  dropping  their 
fancy  as  to  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  Territories  in 
behalf  of  his  great  dogma.  Nor  was  this  prediction  without 
reason,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  havoc  he  was  working  in 
that  party  in  the  East,  where  he  had  won  to  his  side  such  men 
as  Greeley  and  Wilson.  No  doubt  this  would  have  been  large 
ly  the  result  had  it  not  been  for  Lincoln,  who  was  sitting  just 
behind  the  speaker  but  within  the  house,  listening. 

Referring  to  his  opponent,  Douglas  assumed  a  posture  of 
courtesy  and  said,  somewhat  condescendingly,  if  we  may  trust 
report:  "I  take  great  pleasure  in  saying  that  I  have  known, 
personally  and  intimately,  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
the  worthy  gentleman  who  has  been  nominated  for  my  place, 
and  I  will  say  that  I  regard  him  as  a  kind,  amiable,  and  in 
telligent  gentleman,  a  good  citizen  and  an  honorable  oppo 
nent  ;  and  whatever  issue  I  may  have  with  him  will  be  of  prin 
ciple  and  not  involving  personalities."  This  last  prediction, 
however,  was  doomed  to  fail  of  fulfilment  before  the  campaign 
was  half  over. 

But  this  compliment,  doubtful  enough,  was  the  prelude 
to  a  savage  and  sophistical  attack  upon  the  speech  of  Lincoln 
before  the  Springfield  convention,  which  Douglas  described 
as  "a  speech  well  prepared  and  carefully  written."  It  must 
have  been  irritating  to  Lincoln  to  sit  still  while  the  solemn 
opening  words  of  that  speech  were  diverted,  if  not  perverted, 
into  a  call  "to  a  war  of  sections,  a  war  of  the  North  against 
the  South, ' '  and  a  demand  for  a  uniformity  of  customs  in  the 
nation;  as  if  slavery  were  only  a  local  custom.  Such  uni- 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 181 

formity  of  local  custom  meant,  he  insisted,  the  blotting  out  of 
State  sovereignty,  and  the  merging  of  all  the  States  into  an 
empire,  which  was  opposed  to  all  the  teachings  of  the  fathers. 
Coming  to  the  Dred  Scott  case,  which  was  the  flaw  in  the 
Douglas  armor,  in  that  it  had  already  virtually  blotted  out 
State  sovereignty,  the  artful  speaker  vaulted  over  it  with  the 
remark,  uttered  with  great  show  of  impressiveness,  that  he 
"had  no  idea  of  appealing  from  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  upon  a  constitutional  question  to  the  decision  of  a 
tumultuous  town  meeting."  That  was  ever  his  method:  if  he 
could  not  elucidate  a  point  he  would  fatally  befog  it  for  his 
opponent ;  and  so  skilful  was  he  in  this  art,  that  it  would  have 
been  impossible  for  any  man  of  the  same  type  to  meet  him, 
without  being  destroyed  in  the  first  encounter.1  But  Lincoln, 
it  need  hardly  be  said,  was  not  of  the  same  type. 

On  the  following  evening  Lincoln  replied  to  Douglas  from 
the  balcony  of  the  same  hotel,  and  a  vast  throng  greeted  him 
with  lusty  cheers.  If  his  lack  of  skill  in  the  practice  of  soph 
istry  seemed  a  disadvantage,  it  was  soon  evident  to  all  that 
he  knew  how  to  pick  "the  Little  Dodger"  up  on  the  point  of 
his  logic.  Nor  was  it  long  before  even  the  friends  of  Douglas 
felt  that  the  Senator  would  have  to  come  down  off  his  "high 
horse"  and  appeal  from  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  to 
many  a  tumultuous  town  meeting.  This  must  be  counted 
among  the  victories  of  Lincoln,  though  it  could  not  have  been 
achieved  in  ordinary  times,  for  to  attack  a  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court  is  not  easy  to  do  against  an  experienced  de 
bater  like  Douglas.  But  he  was  plainly  on  the  defensive  when 
he  came  to  deal  with  the  deductions  drawn  by  Douglas  from 
his  figure  of  a  house  divided  against  itself.  Already  that  ut 
terance  had  created  something  resembling  a  panic  in  his  own 
party,  and  Lincoln  was  in  a  place  where  he  had  to  hold  the 
support  of  Lovejoy  without  losing  the  support  of  men  who  re 
garded  Lovejoy  as  a  fanatic.  Illinois  was  itself  a  house  divid 
ed  against  itself,  half  Northern  and  half  Southern  in  feeling ; 
and  even  in  the  northern  part,  while  opposition  to  the  exten- 

i  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  by  J.  G.  Elaine,  Vol.  I,  p.  145  (1884). 


182 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDQN 

sion  of  slavery  was  pronounced,  there  was  but  little  sympathy 
with  extreme  abolitionism.  Douglas  knew  this,  but  he  dis 
covered  later,  in  their  joint  debates,  that  it  was  unwise  to  press 
Lincoln  on  this  point.  For  as  often  as  he  did  so,  just  so  often 
did  Lincoln  repeat  that  terrible  prophecy,  and  always  with  a 
solemn  earnestness  which  made  the  hearts  of  men  stand  still. 

At  once  Douglas  mapped  out  his  itinerary  and  set  out  to 
conquer  Illinois,  with  Lincoln  hot  upon  his  trail.  Having  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  on  his  side,  with  a  special  car  at  his 
disposal,  he  traveled  in  state.  Trimmed  with  flags  and  bunt 
ing,  his  luxurious  coach  sped  from  town  to  town,  with  a  plat 
form  car  attached  bearing  a  twelve-pound  cannon  to  fire 
salutes.  Brass  bands  and  colored  banners  heralded  his  com 
ing,  and  committees  of  distinguished  citizens  headed  by 
mayors  received  him  with  every  token  of  jubilation  and  pomp. 
No  hero  returning  from  the  wars  was  ever  hailed  with  greater 
ovations  than  the  champion  of  ' '  popular  sovereignty. ' '  Once, 
as  the  decorated  car  of  Douglas  swept  by,  Lincoln,  side-tracked 
in  a  freight  train,  said  with  a  chuckle :  ' '  The  gentleman  in 
that  turnout  evidently  smelt  no  royalty  in  our  carriage ! ' ' 

So  journeying,  they  arrived  at  Bloomington,  an  old  Whig 
stronghold,  where  Douglas,  speaking  in  the  afternoon,  remind 
ed  his  hearers  that  Lincoln  had  within  a  short  time  abandoned 
the  Whig  party,  and  had  joined  with  Lyman  Trumbull,  who 
had  deserted  the  Democrats,  in  an  organized  effort  to  abolition- 
ize  the  State.  With  an  air  of  triumph  he  magnified  the  enor 
mity  of  this  desertion,  not  knowing,  apparently,  that  nearly 
the  whole  town  had  been  guilty  of  the  same  crime.  His  speech 
was  engagingly  ingenious,  but  it  verged  upon  bathos  at  the 
end  when  he  described  himself  as  standing  beside  the  death 
bed  of  Henry  Clay  and  receiving  the  parting  blessing  of  that 
immortal  Whig  —  as  once  before  he  had  pictured  himself  per 
forming  the  same  office  for  "the  god-like  Webster."  Lincoln 
followed  with  an  effective  speech  in  the  evening,  in  which  he 
not  only  lodged  an  emphatic  demurrer  against  the  quibbles  of 
Douglas,  but  stated  his  case  with  great  earnestness  and  power. 

The  next  day,  rainy  and  sultry,  found  them  at  Springfield, 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 183 

the  home  of  Lincoln  and  a  Douglas  stronghold.  Once  more 
Lincoln  followed  his  opponent  with  a  telling  speech,  mixing 
humor,  logic,  facts,  and  satire.  As  for  the  right  of  the  people 
to  govern  themselves  in  ordinary  matters,  about  which  Doug 
las  was  wont  "to  stand  up  in  majesty,  and  go  through  his 
apotheosis  and  become  a  god,"  that  was  a  principle  which 
neither  man  nor  mouse  was  opposing.  But  slavery  was  no 
ordinary  matter,  and  the  Dred  Scott  decree  had  made  such 
unctuous  devotion  to  the  dogma  of  "popular  sovereignty"  a 
quixotic  absurdity.  So  deeply  had  he  pressed  this  point  at 
Chicago  that  Douglas  had  already  begun  to  slide  down  from 
his  "high  horse,"  far  enough  at  least  to  make  two  very  ear 
nest  appeals  from  Judge  Taney  to  the  voters  of  Illinois. 
Speaking  of  "the  small  trappings  of  the  campaign,"  Lincoln 
did  not  fail  to  note  that  the  Democrats  with  "their  thunder- 
ings  of  cannon,  their  marching  and  music,  the  fizzlegigs  and 
fireworks, ' '  were  trying  to  carry  the  State  by  mere  brute  noise. 
Among  the  disadvantages  under  which  he  labored  he  men 
tioned  the  unfair  apportionment  of  the  State,  which  the  Legis 
lature  had  refused  to  correct.  And  there  was  another  disad 
vantage  : 

Senator  Douglas  is  of  world-wide  renown.  All  the  anxious 
politicians  of  his  party,  or  who  have  been  of  his  party, 
have  been  looking  upon  him  as  certainly,  at  no  distant  day, 
to  be  the  President  of  the  United  States.  They  have  seen 
in  his  round,  jolly,  fruitful  face,  postoffices,  land-offices, 
marshalships  and  cabinet  appointments,  chargeships  and 
foreign  missions,  bursting  and  spouting  out  in  wonderful 
exuberance,  ready  to  be  laid  hold  of  by  their  greedy  hands. 
And  as  they  have  gazed  upon  this  attractive  picture  so 
long,  they  cannot,  in  the  little  distraction  that  has  taken 
place  in  the  party,  bring  themselves  to  give  up  the  charm 
ing  hope;  but  with  greedier  anxiety  they  rush  about  him, 
sustain  him,  give  him  marches,  triumphal  entries,  and  re 
ceptions  beyond  what  even  in  the  days  of  his  highest  pros 
perity  they  could  have  brought  about  in  his  favor.  On  the 
contrary,  nobody  ever  expected  me  to  be  President.  In 
my  poor,  lean,  lank  face,  nobody  has  ever  seen  that  any 
cabbages  were  sprouting  out. 

That  his  blows  were  being  felt  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 


184 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

Democratic  papers  began  to  say,  derisively,  that  he  could  not 
get  a  crowd  except  by  following  in  the  wake  of  the  great 
Senator.  The  truth  is  that  he  was  doing  all  within  his  power 
to  provoke  a  challenge  from  Douglas  to  a  combat  of  debate, 
but  his  wily  foe  was  not  disposed  to  invite  such  a  contest. 
Perhaps  Douglas  had  too  vivid  a  recollection  of  past  en 
counters  to  desire  a  repetition  of  them ;  otherwise  he  would  not 
have  waited  for  a  challenge,  but  would  himself  have  thrown 
down  the  glove  to  Lincoln  as  soon  as  he  entered  the  State. 
At  last,  on  July  24th,  Lincoln  sent  him  a  note,  suggesting  that 
they  divide  time  and  address  the  same  audiences  during  the 
canvass.  This  meant  that  every  meeting  thenceforward,  to 
the  end  of  the  campaign,  should  be  a  joint  debate.  Rumor 
was  rife  that  Douglas  did  not  wish  to  engage  in  debate,  and 
had  said  so  privately. 

Certainly  he  was  loath  to  accept.  He  was  aware  that  such 
a  contest,  with  the  eyes  of  the  nation  fixed  upon  it,  would 
make  Lincoln  a  national  figure ;  that,  as  he  remarked,  "  If  he 
gets  the  best  of  the  debate  —  and  I  want  to  say  he  is  the  ablest 
man  the  Republicans  have  got  —  I  shall  lose  everything  and 
Lincoln  will  gain  everything. ' '  While,  in  public,  he  might  refer 
to  Lincoln,  patronizingly,  as  an  ' '  amiable  and  intelligent  gen 
tleman, "  he  knew  the  power  of  the  man  when  he  said  to  his 
friends  in  private :  "I  shall  have  my  hands  full.  He  is  the 
strong  man  of  his  party  —  full  of  wit,  facts,  dates  —  and  the  best 
stump  speaker,  with  his  droll  ways  and  dry  jokes,  in  the  West. 
He  is  as  honest  as  he  is  shrewd,  and,  if  I  beat  him,  my  victory 
will  be  hardly  won. ' ' 1  Then,  too,  Douglas  had  expected  to 
come  home  to  an  easy,  triumphant  campaign,  in  the  warmth 
of  approval  for  his  really  gallant  fight  against  Buchanan :  he 
did  not  wish,  as  Lincoln  was  evidently  forcing  him  to  do,  to 
discuss  his  own  record,  least  of  all  the  moral  issue  of  slavery ; 
and  it  was  only  human  that  he  should  hesitate  to  take  up  such 
a  task  as  Lincoln  has  set  for  him.  But  he  knew  that  if  he 
declined  the  challenge  on  any  grounds  whatever,  he  would  lose 
the  battle. 


Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  Johnson,  p.  352   (1908). 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 185 

Nor  was  it  without  mingled  feelings  that  Lincoln  had  sent 
his  note  of  challenge.  He  knew  that  Douglas  had  the  ad 
vantage  of  position,  and  the  prestige  of  great  and  long  con 
tinued  success;  that  the  power  of  money,  which  always  sup 
ports  the  conservative  and  aristocratic  side,  was  with  him; 
that  he  had  unusual  arts  of  sophistry  and  subterfuge,  making 
him  difficult  to  meet  in  debate,  even  by  such  men  as  Seward, 
Sumner,  and  Chase.  Besides,  he  knew  that,  while  in  the  abil 
ity  to  hit  straight  and  hard  blows  he  was  the  equal  of  Doug 
las,  "the  long,  labored  movements"  of  his  own  mind,  of  which 
he  used  to  talk  to  Herndon,  made  him  deficient  in  quick  and 
nimble  fencing.  He  was  keenly  conscious,  as  well,  of  the  con 
trast  between  the  dazzling  fame  of  Douglas  and  his  own  hum 
ble  lot  in  the  world.  ""With  me,"  he  said,,  with  a  shadow  of 
sadness  on  his  dark  yellow  face,  "the  race  of  ambition  has 
been  a  failure  —  a  flat  failure ;  with  him  it  has  been  one  of 
splendid  success.  His  name  fills  the  nation,  and  is  not  un 
known  even  in  foreign  lands.  I  affect  no  contempt  for  the 
high  eminence  he  has  reached  —  so  reached  that  the  oppressed 
of  my  species  might  have  shared  with  me  in  the  elevation,  £ 
would  rather  stand  on  that  eminence  than  wear  the  richest 
crown  that  ever  pressed  a  monarch's  brow."1  Still,  he  was 
not  unmindful  of  the  opportunity  to  send  his  name  afar,  but 
he  seems  to  have  been  honestly  more  eager  to  plead  his  great 
cause  in  a  national  forum  than  to  gain  personal  renown. 
Such  a  debate  was  not  to  be  lightly  entered  upon,  but  Lincoln 
was  ready  for  it,  having  prepared  his  speeches  while  watching 
the  flies  on  the  ceiling  of  his  back  office. 

While  declining  to  divide  all  his  time,  Douglas  agreed  to 
seven  joint  debates  to  be  held,  with  two  exceptions,  in  the 
central  part  of  the  State,  where  the  real  battle  was  to  be 
fought.  He  intimated,  rather  unfairly,  that  Lincoln  had  pur 
posely  waited  until  he  had  arranged  his  itinerary,  and  hinted 
the  possibility  of  a  third  candidate  with  whom  Lincoln  might 
make  common  cause.  In  reply  Lincoln  resented  the  imputa 
tion  of  unfairness,  but  agreed  to  the  seven  debates,  leaving 

i  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  W.  H.  Lamon,  pp.  408-9  (1872). 


186  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

Douglas  to  name  the  dates  and  places.  Douglas  selected  Ot 
tawa,  Freeport,  Jonesboro,  Charleston,  Galesburg,  Quincy,  and 
Alton,  two  debates  to  be  held  in  August,  two  in  September, 
and  three  in  October.  Lincoln  acceded,  somewhat  grudgingly, 
as  the  scheme,  so  arranged,  gave  Douglas  four  openings  and 
closings  to  his  three ;  though  that  was  not  unfair,  since  he  had 
been  ' '  closing  in ' '  upon  the  Senator,  as  one  of  his  friends  put 
it,  for  two  weeks.  On  the  same  day  that  Lincoln  sent  his  note 
to  Douglas,  Herndon  wrote  to  Mr.  Parker : 

Springfield,  111.,  July  24,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir : — I  this  day  received  your  Fourth  of  July  ora 
tion.  I  thank  you  most  sincerely.  I  have  read  it  carefully, 
and  say  that  it  is  most  excellent,  quite  eloquent.  We  are 
approaching  a  very  animated,  warm,  energetic  canvass ;  and 
if  it  does  not  get  into  personalities  it  will  be  a  great,  and, 
I  think,  grand  canvass.  I  fear,  however,  that  personalities 
will  creep  into  the  debates.  Mr.  Lincoln  takes  broader 
and  deeper  grounds  than  he  did  in  the  Springfield  speech. 
I  told  you  the  speakers  would  do  so,  and  even  Lincoln  had 
to  follow.  The  canvass  opens  deep  and  rich;  but  we  Re 
publicans  have  a  clever  villain  to  combat.  Douglas  is  an 
ambitious  and  an  unscrupulous  man ;  he  is  the  greatest  liar 
in  all  America;  he  misrepresents  Lincoln  throughout,  and 
our  people  generally  are  not  logical  enough  to  see  the  pre 
cise  manner,  point  and  issue  of  the  deception.  He  holds 
up  in  glowing  letters  " squatter  sovereignty,"  which  he 
knows  is  dead  and  buried  under  the  Dred  Scott  case.  It 
suits  his  purpose,  however,  and  he  fiddles  on  it  quite  cun 
ningly  and  shrewdly.  Politics  is  a  great  game  and  delu 
sion  is  its  greatest  power.  The  politician  who  knows  the 
game  and  can  use  that  delusion  the  cunningest,  is  the  great 
est  man.  Hurrah  for  politics  —  Bah ! 

I  spoke  in  this  city  on  Thursday  evening  to  a  crowded 
house — •  spoke  to  the  Republican  young  men.  I  am  the 
young  man's  friend,  and  am  not  without  influence  among 
them.  I  shall  always  use  it  for  the  Eternal  Right,  popular 
or  unpopular.  Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

All  during  this  exciting  and  bitter  contest  Herndon  was  alert, 
tireless,  and  immensely  useful,  for  his  position  made  it  possible 
for  him  to  do  many  things  that  Lincoln  could  not  do;  many 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 187 

things  indeed,  that  Lincoln  would  not  do,  but  most  of  which  he 
approved.  Early  and  late  the  junior  partner  was  busy 
writing  editorials,  working  tricks  on  pro-slavery  papers,1  or 
ganizing  clubs,  feeling  the  popular  pulse  —  for  which  he  had  a 
rare  gift  —  and  looking  up  facts,  dates,  and  history  for  his 
chief.  Again  and  again  Lincoln  telegraphed  or  wrote  to  the 
office  for  information,  and  Herndon  was  invariably  ready  with 
it.  No  task  was  too  difficult,  none  too  exacting  or  exhausting, 
for  him  to  undertake  in  behalf  of  the  cause  and  its  leader,  with 
an  enthusiasm  inspired  equally  by  political  principle  and  per 
sonal  friendship.  Besides,  he  found  time  to  do  some  very  ef 
fective  work  on  the  stump,  journeying  all  over  central  Illinois 
and  speaking  to  vast  throngs. 

As  an  orator  Herndon  was  picturesque  and  impressive,  of 
resonant  voice  and  dignified  bearing,  rapid  in  his  thought, 
vivid  in  his  imagery,  multi-colored  in  his  rhetoric ;  less  logical 
than  Lincoln,  but  more  facile ;  more  restrained  than  Lovejoy, 
but  hardly  less  radical ;  a  man  who  held  great  audiences  and 
swayed  them  with  ease.  On  a  sultry  summer  evening  early  in 
the  campaign  he  spoke  at  Petersburg,  when  Donati's  comet, 
then  touring  the  sky,  was  visible  in  unusual  splendor.  After 
speaking  for  nearly  three  hours,  he  turned  to  the  comet  and 
addressed  it  in  a  graphic  peroration.  Sketching  the  state  of 
society  when  it  had  last  appeared,  and  the  changes  wrought 
during  its  absence,  he  appealed  to  the  heavenly  pilgrim  to  in 
form  its  sisterhood  of  the  things  about  to  be  done  in  the  name 
of  God  and  human  liberty.  Those  who  heard  him  that  even 
ing  went  away  instructed,  solemnized,  and  exalted.  But  he 
could  be  argumentative  also,  as  witness  the  speech  referred 
to  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Parker : 

Springfield,  111.,  July  28,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir : — I  told  you  a  few  days  ago  of  a  speech  that  I 
made  to  our  Republican  club  here.  I  send  you  a  line  cut 
from  the  Illinois  Journal,  which  gives  one  phase  of  that 
speech.  I  really  think  it  is  law,  and  am  going  to  urge  it  on 
the  stump,  ready  to  back  it  up  by  analogy,  reason,  and  the 


Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  II,  pp.  38-9. 


188 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

constitution.  If  the  Democracy  can  carry  this  case,  the  in 
humanity  to  the  blacks,  and  the  denial  of  the  constitutional 
rights  of  the  whites,  if  they  can  enslave  all  the  Territories 
under  the  title  of  "sacred  right  of  self-government,"  and 
if  they  can  do  as  they  have  done  in  Kansas  for  four  years 
in  the  name  of  constitutional  law,  then  they  can  enslave 
the  white  man  and  deshrine  God  under  the  name  of  Democ 
racy.  I  send  you  these  clippings  to  let  you  know  that  I 
am  on  duty.  Will  soon  take  the  stump  and  go  over  the 
State,  or  at  least  the  central  part  of  it. 

Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

In  brief,  his  argument  was  that  by  act  of  Congress,  in  1789, 
the  Federal  courts  were  given  cognizance  of  suits  of  a  civil 
nature  at  common  law  or  in  equity,  where  the  suit  was  be 
tween  citizens  of  different  States.  But  the  Supreme  Court,  in 
the  Dred  Scott  case,  had  decided  that  a  negro  was  not  a  cit 
izen,  and  for  that  reason  could  not  sue.  As,  however,  by  the 
terms  of  the  act,  both  parties  to  the  suit  must  be  citizens,  if 
the  negro  was  incapable  of  suing,  he  was  equally  incapable  of 
being  sued.  So  that,  if  a  negro  in  Illinois  owed  a  white  man 
in  Missouri  a  sum  of  money,  which  he  refused  to  pay,  there 
was  no  recourse  at  law.  Thus  the  Dred  Scott  decree,  by  plac 
ing  a  disability  upon  negroes,  had  worked  a  glaring  outrage 
upon  the  white  man,  leaving  him  without  remedy  in  the  Fed 
eral  courts,  while  it  made  the  negro  wholly  irresponsible  for 
his  contracts.  And  with  this  point  Herndon  goaded  his  Dem 
ocratic  foes  until  the  votes  were  cast. 

At  Springfield  Douglas  had  noticed,  for  the  first  time,  the 
charge  of  Lincoln  that  he  and  his  party  leaders  were  con 
spirators  plotting  to  make  slavery  national,  remarking  that  he 
did  not  think  so  badly  of  the  President  and  the  Supreme 
Court.  Thereupon  Lincoln  had  made  the  charge  more  specific 
by  adding  that  Douglas  had  "left  a  niche  in  the  Nebraska 
Bill  to  receive  the  Dred  Scott  decision,"  which  declared  that 
a  Territorial  Legislature  could  not  abolish  slavery.  Douglas 
was  not  slow  to  discover  that  the  charge,  left  in  this  shape,  was 
beginning  to  hurt.  So,  at  Clinton,  he  read  the  charge  to  his 
audience,  and  said  that  his  self-respect  alone  prevented  him 


from  calling  it  a  falsehood.  But  at  Beardstown,  a  few  days 
later,  his  self-respect  had  broken  down,  and  with  wild  and 
angry  gestures  he  pronounced  it  "an  infamous  lie!"  Three 
hours  afterward  Lincoln  was  on  the  same  spot  summing  up  the 
evidence  for  his  charge  in  a  passage  which  for  cumulative 
force  and  acumen  could  not  be  surpassed,  followed  quickly  by 
another  pitched  in  that  tone  of  half-sad  soliloquy  and  appeal, 
so  often  heard  during  the  debates : 

Think  nothing  of  me :  take  no  thought  for  the  political  fate 
of  any  man  whomsoever,  but  come  back  to  the  truths  that 
are  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  You  may  do  any 
thing  with  me  you  choose,  if  you  will  but  heed  those  sacred 
principles.  You  may  not  only  defeat  me  for  the  Senate, 
but  you  may  take  me  and  put  me  to  death.  While  pretend 
ing  no  indifference  to  earthly  honors,  I  do  claim  to  be  act 
uated  in  this  contest  by  something  higher  than  an  anxiety 
for  office.  I  charge  you  to  drop  every  paltry  and  insig 
nificant  thought  for  any  man's  success.  It  is  nothing;  I 
am  nothing ;  Judge  Douglas  is  nothing.  But  do  not  destroy 
that  immortal  emblem  of  humanity  —  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence. 

Ill 

It  is  not  easy  to  be  just  to  Senator  Douglas  during  the 
contest  of  1858. l  Not  only  in  the  methods  he  employed,  but 
in  his  very  bearing  and  in  the  spirit  he  displayed,  he  had  every 
aspect  of  a  model  demagogue.  One  expects  hard  hitting  and 
rough  speech  at  such  times,  though  Douglas  was  unnecessar 
ily  offensive ;  but  that  is  not  so  much  the  ground  of  complaint 
as  the  fact  that  he  persistently  evaded  the  real  issue,  and  when 

1  Of  course,  in  the  bitterness  of  political  acrimony,  many  things  were 
said  and  writen  of  Senator  Douglas  which  were  unjust.  Even  his  personal 
habits  were  exaggerated  and  he  was  pictured  as  a  coarse,  vulgar,  and 
almost  brutal  man.  —  Life  and  Letters  of  E.  L.  Godkin,  Vol.  I,  pp.  177-8 
(1907).  Partisan  eyes  saw  little  that  was  admirable  in  him.  —  Remi 
niscences,  by  Carl  Schurz,  Vol.  II,  p.  95  (1909).  On  the  other  side  are 
the  portrayals  by  such  men  as  Koerner  and  Clark  E.  Carr,  who  knew 
him,  and  the  picture  is  more  engaging,  because  more  true.  —  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  by  C.  E.  Carr,  pp.  41-52  (1909). 


190 


he  could  not  evade  it  he  deliberately  beclouded  it.  We  have 
to  remember,  however,  that  he  entered  the  field  in  face  of  an 
alert  and  powerful  foe,  disappointed  that  there  was  to  be  a 
contest  at  all,  with  defection  and  betrayal  in  the  rear,  and  that 
he  was  fighting  for  his  political  life.  If  this  did  not  excuse 
some  of  the  methods  and  tactics  to  which  he  resorted,  it  may 
mitigate  a  too  severe  judgment  of  the  man. 

On  his  personal  side,  Senator  Douglas  was  a  man  of  many 
admirable  and  lovable  traits,  which  won  for  him  the  loyalty 
of  thousands  who  had  no  thought  of  favors  past  or  to  come. 
Of  short  and  stocky  figure,  a  little  corpulent,  though  not  too 
much  so,  he  was  agile,  graceful,  athletic,  and  a  dynamo  of 
vitality.  His  head  was  massive,  crowned  with  rich  brown 
hair,  sprinkled  with  grey ;  his  forehead  high,  open,  and  finely 
shaped;  his  eyebrows  thick  and  heavy;  his  eyes  large,  deeply 
set,  of  dark  blue,  flashing  fire  when  stirred ;  his  mouth  cleanly 
cut  and  very  expressive ;  his  chin  square  and  full,  with  eddy 
ing  dimples  —  every  line  bespeaking  energy,  audacity,  and 
power.  Affable,  gracious,  and  winning,  he  was  a  good  mixer 
who  never  forgot  a  name,  an  incessant  smoker,  at  times  con 
vivial  but  rarely  to  excess;  equally  at  home  in  the  Senate  or 
on  the  stump ;  a  man  who  never  turned  his  back  to  a  foe  or 
upon  a  friend.  Of  indomitable  pluck,  he  was  truly  kind- 
hearted,  and  a  man  of  great  ability.  If  he  had  been  one  de 
gree  more  refined  he  would  perhaps  have  been  many  degrees 
less  popular. 

In  that  peculiar  style  of  oratory,  which,  in  its  intensity, 
resembles  physical  combat,  Douglas  had  no  equal.1  His  pres 
ence  was  dominating,  his  personality  compact  and  impressive, 
his  voice  strong,  but  not  well  modulated.  Calm  in  stating 
facts,  he  was  passionate  in  attack,  disdainful  when  forced  to 
defend,  and  without  scruple  when  pushed  to  the  wall.  In  as 
sertion  bold,  in  denunciation  bitter  —  yet  repenting  a  poisoned 
shaft  as  soon  as  it  left  his  bow  —  not  caring  to  persuade  so 
much  as  to  force  the  assent  of  his  hearers,  he  was  the  Danton, 
not  the  Mirabeau,  of  oratory.  Fluent  in  speech,  facile  in 

i  Twenty  Tears  of  Congress,  by  J.  G.  Elaine,  Vol.  I,  p.  144  (1884). 


STEPHEN  A.  DOUGLAS 

[By  courtesy  of  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Socdety~\ 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 191 

logic,  lie  was  skilled  in  all  the  tricks  of  rough  and  tumble  de 
bate,  and  in  the  art  of  manipulating  audiences,  though  appar 
ently  devoid  alike  of  humor  and  of  pathos.1  He  was  not  a 
student,  aside  from  the  political  history  of  the  nation,  of  which 
his  knowledge  was  minute  and  critical.  His  English  was  bold, 
terse,  and  pointed,  rarely  adorned  with  simile,  and  never,  it 
is  said,  with  a  line  of  poetry.  His  speeches,  like  those  of  Clay, 
do  not  read  well  —  he  lacked  entirely  the  literary  quality  —  but 
they  were  immensely  effective  at  the  time,  delivered  as  they 
were  with  vehement  gesture  and  great  personal  force.  Such 
was  Douglas  at  his  best,  but  towards  the  end  of  the  debates 
his  voice  became  sinister  and  harsh,  as  befitted  the  ugly  mood 
of  a  man  worn  down  with  hoarseness  and  rage. 

Lincoln  belonged  to  another  order  of  men.  He  lacked  al 
most  every  grace  of  presence  and  of  elocution,  but  he  pro 
duced  such  effects  as  only  a  great  orator  may  create.  Logic 
al  thrusts  deft  and  piercing,  humorous  retorts  quaint  and  pat, 
witty  illustrations  apt  and  unforgetable,  united  in  his  speech 
with  a  moral  earnestness,  a  candor,  a  sincerity,  a  calm  force 
of  reason,  and  a  simple,  direct,  sky-clear  style  which  left  no 
shadow  on  his  meaning.  His  very  voice,  so  high  and  often 
rasping,  with  little  feeling  of  harmony  in  it,  and  little  variety 
of  cadence;  his  enunciation,  so  careful,  so  deliberate,  and  at 
times  so  hesitating;  his  restrained  and  awkward  manner,  in 
which  there  was  nothing  of  the  daring  reckless  freedom  of  the 
popular  agitator  —  all  these  added  to  the  impression  that  he 

1  "  He  would  enjoy  and  laugh  at  stories,  but  there  is  no  record  that 
he  ever  told  one.  He  appreciated  a  pun,  but  he  never  made  one. ' '  — 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  C.  E.  Carr,  p.  44.  On  the  evening  before  he 
arrived  in  Chicago,  on  July  9th,  the  city  council  had  passed  a  resolution 
denouncing  the  Dred  Scott  decision.  This  was  what  Douglas  meant  by 
appealing  from  the  Supreme  Court  to  "  a  town  meeting, ' '  which  re 
minded  him  of  an  old  friend  who  used  to  say  that  to  get  justice  one 
should  take  a  case  <to  the  Illinois  Supreme  Court,  and  from  that  court 
take  an  appeal  to  a  justice  of  the  peace.  Lincoln's  voice  was  heard 
from  behind,  sotto  voce,  calling,  "  Judge!  Judge!  "  Douglas  paused 
and  turned  around,  and  Lincoln  said,  "  Judge,  that  was  when  you  were 
on  the  Illinois  Supreme  Bench!  '•  So  far  from  being  angry,  Douglas 
repeated  the  joke  of  his  "  friend  Lincoln  "  to  the  audience. 


192 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

was  an  honest  man  seeking  to  know  and  tell  the  truth.  He 
was  usually  embarrassed  at  the  beginning,  so  that  the  faces 
of  his  friends  sometimes  fell  in  dismay.  He  rarely  raised  his 
hands  above  his  head  in  gesture,  and  he  had  almost  none  of 
the  hypnotic  magnetism  which  legend  attributes  to  him.  All 
that  he  tried  to  do  in  the  way  of  style,  beyond  clearness  and 
directness,  was  to  know  exactly  what  he  meant  to  say,  to  say 
it,  and  have  done  with  it. 

Most  men  receive  from  their  audience  in  vapor  what  they 
return  in  flood,  but  it  was  not  after  that  manner  that  Lincoln 
was  eloquent.  With  a  great  throng  before  him,  his  thought 
often  seemed  to  be  moving  in  remote  and  lonely  regions,  as 
one  who  saw  things  afar  off.  His  appeal  was  not  so  much  to 
his  audience  as  to  the  individual  man  of  whom  it  was  com 
posed,  and  to  what  was  highest  and  best  in  every  one  of  them. 
He  believed  that  the  human  soul,  when  separated  from  the 
tumults  which  commonly  disturb  it,  cannot  refuse  to  respond 
to  the  voice  of  righteousness  and  reason,  and  his  faith  acted 
like  a  spell  upon  those  who  heard  him.  Each  man  seemed  to 
stand  apart  from  the  crowd,  and  in  those  great  moments  when 
the  speaker  stood  as  one  transfigured  and  inspired  men  felt 
that  their  own  souls  spoke  to  them  in  the  tones  of  the  orator. 
Such  eloquence,  the  greatest  known  among  men,  is  possible 
only  in  times  of  crises,  and  Lincoln  spoke  with  the  ultimate 
grace  of  simplicity  at  an  hour  when  the  right  word  fell  with 
the  authority  of  an  apparition. 

By  this  time  the  State  was  all  aglow  from  Galena  to  Cairo  — 
speechifying,  denouncing,  inveighing,  disinterring  dead 
speeches  and  by-gone  slanders,  making  magniloquent  prophe 
cies,  and  getting  up  "glorious  mass  meetings."  Lincoln  jour 
neyed  from  Beardstown  to  Havana,  Bath,  Lewistown,  Canton, 
and  Peoria,  speaking  at  each  place,  and  thence  to  Ottawa  on 
the  21st  of  August,  where  the  first  joint  debate  was  to  take 
place.  There  he  met  Robert  R.  Hitt,1  who  was  to  serve  him 

1  It  was  my  privilege  to  know  Robert  R.  Hitt  in  his  later  years,  and 
a  more  delightful  gentleman  never  lived.  His  personality,  while  not 
dazzling  or  masterful,  was  picturesque  and  winning,  and  his  conversation 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 193 

as  reporter,  and  an  audience  estimated  at  about  twelve  thou 
sand,  which  had  gathered  to  witness  the  first  encounter.  The 
story  of  these  debates  has  been  often  told,  and  need  not  be  re 
peated  in  detail,  but  a  glimpse  at  this  scene  may  make  it  more 
vivid. 

From  dawn  to  mid-day,  and  even  the  day  before,  men,  wo 
men,  and  children  had  poured  into  town,  in  every  sort  of 
' '  rig. ' '  Through  clouds  of  dust  they  came,  under  the  blister 
ing  sun,  as  on  pleasure  bent,  laughing  and  joking  as  they  jour 
neyed.  Hay-carts,  filled  with  merry  young  folk,  lumbered 
along  over  ill-made  roads,  while  straw  riders  chatted  and  sang. 
Market-wagons,  loaded  with  provisions,  towed  buggies  to  ac 
commodate  the  women  and  babies  of  the  farm;  and  lads 
proudly  rode  their  plow-horses  to  the  fray,  guiding  them  with 
bits  of  rope  for  reins.  Here  and  there  in  the  procession  an 
old  "prairie  schooner"  moved  slowly  forward,  the  faces  of 
children  peeping  from  its  cavernous  entrance,  and  a  stovepipe 
protruding  from  its  roof.  Along  all  converging  roads  men 
and  barefoot  boys  trudged  through  the  blinding  dust,  calling 
themselves  railsplitters  or  little  giants.  Ottawa  overflowed 
onto  the  bluffs  and  out  into  the  fields,  where  by  noon-day  good- 
natured  crowds  were  cooking  dinner,  exchanging  greetings, 
sharing  food,  and  discussing  the  merits  of  the  debaters.  Ev 
eryone  seemed  to  be  in  a  holiday  mood,  and  while  each  side 

graphic  and  brilliant.  His  mind  was  a  treasure-house  of  curiously  inter 
esting  and  generally  unknown  facts  about  historic  men  and  movements, 
and  h«  could  easily  have  been  the  Plutarch  of  the  statesmen  of  his  day. 
Many  of  his  friends  —  the  writer  among  them  —  repeatedly  urged  Mr. 
Hitt  to  write  his  reminiscences,  but  he  as  often  declined.  In  Winston 
Churchill 's  story,  The  Crisis,  Mr.  Hitt  appears  as  ' '  Hill  ' '  —  Churchill 
having  learned  the  facts,  in  their  vivid  human  color  at  least,  from  a 
conversation  with  Mr.  Hitt.  Like  John  Hay  —  whom  he  resembled  in 
more  ways  than  one  —  as  a  young  man  Hitt  caught  the  glow  of  the  moral 
idealism  of  Lincoln,  and  to  that  simple  teaching  he  added  the  culture 
and  polish  of  a  man  of  the  world.  But,  in  all  his  career,  as  a  diplomat, 
as  the  head  of  important  commissions,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs,  where  he  was  so  long  a  distinction  and  an  ornament,  it 
was  a  poish  that  revealed,  as  true  polish  always  does  reveal,  the  fine  grain 
his  manhood. 


194 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

was  sure  of  victory  very  little  ill-feeling  was  displayed. 
Peddlers  were  everywhere  exhibiting  their  wares,  and  almost 
every  farmer  had  something  to  ' '  swap, ' '  which  gave  the  scene 
the  aspect  of  a  county  fair. 

Shortly  after  noon,  special  trains  began  to  arrive,  bands 
were  playing,  banners  fluttering,  and  the  streets  were  jammed. 
Rival  processions  moved  to  and  fro  —  one,  a  mile  long,  marched 
down  the  Peru  road  to  Buffalo  Rock  to  meet  Douglas,  and  two 
brass  cannons  roared  salutes  as  he  entered  the  town.  Lincoln 
arrived,  entered  a  gaily  decorated  carriage,  and  his  friends 
formed  a  noisy  escort  to  the  home  of  the  mayor,  led  by  a  band 
and  carrying  all  sorts  of  banners,  some  in  honor  of  "Abe  the 
Giant  Killer, ' '  and  others  announcing  ' '  Edgar  County  for  the 
Tall  Sucker!"  By  this  time  a  free  fight  was  going  on  near 
the  platform  on  the  square,  where  the  debate  was  to  be  held, 
so  eager  was  the  crowd  to  be  close  to  the  speakers.  Douglas, 
not  without  difficulty,  forced  his  way  through  the  throng  and 
reached  the  platform,  where  he  bowed  gracefully  to  the  cheer 
ing  multitude.  Then  came  Lincoln,  followed  by  Mayor  Glover 
and  Owen  Lovejoy,  and  the  sight  of  him  was  a  signal  for  deaf 
ening  applanse,  at  which  Douglas  scowled.  Scarcely  could 
two  men  more  unlike,  in  physical  and  mental  makeup,  have 
been  brought  together. 

No  formality  of  introduction  was  needed,  and  Douglas,  who 
was  to  open  the  debate,  plunged  forthwith  into  a  tirade  upon 
the  Republican  party,  which  he  said  was  Abolitionism  in  dis 
guise,  organized  in  Illinois  as  the  result  of  a  compact  between 
Lincoln  and  Trumbull  who  wanted  office.  With  great  flourish 
he  linked  their  names  with  those  of  "  Father  Giddings  and 
Fred  Douglass,"  laying  special  emphasis  upon  the  last  name. 
He  then  read  a  list  of  questions  to  his  opponent  based  upon  a 
series  of  resolutions  which,  he  alleged,  had  been  reported  by 
Lincoln,  as  chairman  of  the  committee,  to  a  Republican  State 
convention,  held  at  Springfield  in  October,  1854.  Those  reso 
lutions  declared,  among  other  things,  for  the  admission  of 
no  more  Slave  States  and  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 
Such  radical  demands,  he  argued,  were  of  a  piece  with  the 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 195 

speech  of  Lincoln  in  accepting  his  nomination,  which  he  said 
was  a  threat  of  war  against  the  South.  All  of  which  proved 
that  the  Republican  party  was  revolutionary  and  sectional, 
and  as  such  dangerous,  even  going  so  far  as  to  advocate  the 
equality  of  negroes  and  whites.  It  was  a  bold  and  skilful 
speech,  an  attack  not  an  argument,  an  appeal  to  prejudice 
not  to  reason.  Never  did  Douglas  give  better  proof  of  his 
right  to  the  title  of  little  giant  than  on  that  day. 

Lincoln  was  plainly  vexed  when  he  rose,  but  he  soon  re 
covered  himself  and  began  his  reply  with  the  same  dignity 
and  courtesy  that  marked  him  to  the  end.  If  he  had  not  been 
a  most  adroit  debater  he  could  not  have  escaped  the  first  on 
slaught,  for  he  had  to  pick  his  way  between  two  extremes; 
but  he  could  not  be  provoked  into  a  blunder.  Taking  up  "the 
little  follies"  of  his  antagonist,  as  he  called  them,  he  denied 
any  compact  with  Trumbull,  and  merely  remarked,  as  he  truly 
could,  that  no  Republican  convention  was  held  in  Springfield, 
or  anywhere  else,  in  1854,  and  that  he  was  not  present  at  the 
meeting  referred  to.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  in  another 
county,  attending  court  —  thanks  to  the  strategy  of  Herndon. 
Having  disposed  of  these  trifles,  he  proceeded  to  the  real  is 
sues,  refusing  to  be  diverted  from  great  principles  to  petty 
prejudices.  By  this  time  all  trace  of  annoyance  and  embarrass 
ment  had  vanished,  and  in  dwelling  upon  the  Dred  Scott  case 
he  dealt  a  series  of  thrusts  that  made  Douglas  and  his  friends 
squirm.  One  Irishman,  aweary  of  the  prodding,  cried  out, 
' '  Give  us  something  besides  Drid  Scott ! ' ' 

There  was  no  escaping  him ;  what  he  wanted  to  make  plain 
was  that  Douglas  had  some  reason  for  standing  by  the  Dred 
Scott  infamy,  other  than  loyalty  to  the  courts,  which  he  dared 
not  admit.  Douglas  had  not  said  that  the  decision  was  right 
in  itself,  but  simply  that  it  had  been  decided  by  the  court 
and,  as  such,  he  must  take  it  as  a  rule  of  political  action.  But 
he  had  defied  other  decisions  of  the  same  court,  and  had  won 
his  seat  on  the  Illinois  Supreme  Bench,  and  his  title  of 
"Judge,"  by  being  appointed,  with  four  others,  to  vote  down  a 
ruling  of  that  tribunal.  So  there  must  be  a  reason,  "a  pur- 


196  LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON         

pose,  strong  as  death  and  eternity,  for  which  he  adheres  to 
this  decision,  and  for  which  he  will  adhere  to  all  other  deci 
sions  of  the  same  court. ' '  Having  driven  this  point  home,  he 
passed  slowly  into  a  peroration  which  evoked  such  a  storm  of 
applause  that  Douglas,  in  his  half-hour  reply,  was  powerless 
to  stay  it : 

Judge  Douglas  is  going  back  to  the  era  of  our  Revolution, 
and,  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  muzzling  the  cannon  which 
thunders  its  annual  joyous  return.  When  he  invites  any 
people,  willing  to  have  slavery,  to  establish  it,  he  is  blow 
ing  out  the  moral  lights  around  us.  When  he  says  he 
"cares  not  whether  slavery  is  voted  down  or  voted  up" — 
that  it  is  a  sacred  right  of  self-government  —  he  is,  in  my 
judgment,  penetrating  the  human  soul,  and  eradicating 
the  light  of  reason  and  the  love  of  liberty  in  this  American 
people.  And  now  I  will  only  say,  that  when  by  these 
means  and  appliances,  Judge  Douglas  shall  succeed  in 
bringing  public  sentiment  to  an  exact  accord  with  his  own 
views  —  when  these  vast  assemblies  shall  echo  back  all  these 
sentiments  —  when  they  shall  come  to  repeat  his  views,  and 
to  say  all  that  he  says  on  these  mighty  questions  —  then  it 
needs  only  the  formality  of  a  second  Dred  Scott  decision, 
which  he  endorses  in  advance,  to  make  slavery  alike  lawful 
in  all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South. 

After  this  no  one  doubted  that  it  was  to  be,  on  one  side  at 
least,  the  battle  of  a  giant.  Both  men  were  able,  astute,  and 
masterful,  both  were  seasoned  politicians,  both  were  hard  hit 
ters  in  debate,  and  both  knew  Illinois  from  Chicago  to  Cairo. 
Lincoln  excelled  Douglas  in  his  devotion  to  an  idea,  its  prob 
able  consequences,  and  all  that  it  implied,  and  thus  gained 
the  advantage  which  the  thorough-going  logician  must  always 
gain  over  the  hair-splitting  opportunist.  He  was  less  of  an 
egoist  than  Douglas,  less  ambitious,  and  therefore  less  selfish, 
for  Douglas  would  never  have  yielded  to  Trumbull  as  Lincoln 
did.  Yet  Douglas  was  a  great  party  leader  —  not  incapable  of 
sacrifices  —  inferior  to  Lincoln  only  on  his  moral  side.  Two 
days  later  Herndon  wrote  to  Theodore  Parker : 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 197 

Springfield,  111.,  August  23,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir: — Some  days  since  I  received  from  you  four 
sermons  delivered  before  the  "Progressive  Friends."  The 
first  two  are  excellent,  the  third  eloquent,  and  the  fourth  is 
the  heart  development  of  religion.  You  have  almost,  in 
this,  excelled  yourself,  and  I  wish  this  resume  was  in  the 
hands  of  every  American  citizen,  so  that  all  might  see  what 
the  religion  is. 

Now  for  Illinois  politics.  Mr.  Lincoln  spoke  at  Ottawa 
on  Saturday.  Mr.  Douglas  also  spoke  there.  This  was 
their  first  place  of  meeting.  We  have  not  heard  from 
them,  but  we  Republicans  know  how  the  debate  ended,  if 
Lincoln  was  well.  Lincoln  will  deliver  a  speech  there  that 
will  do  himself  credit.  He  is  too  much  of  a  Kentucky  gen 
tleman  to  debate  with  Douglas;  he  will  not  condescend  to 
lie.  He  will  not  bend  to  expediency ;  he  will  not  hug  shams, 
and  so  he  labors  under  a  disadvantage  in  this  State.  Yet 
he  will  take  hold  of  Douglas  and  prove  the  conspiracy  to 
enslave  America  on  him.  He  has  got  the  documents  and 
will  shoot  the  charge  home. 

Judge  Trumbull  made  a  very  fine  speech  at  Chicago,  a 
week  or  so  since,  which  you  have  doubtless  seen;  it  was 
what  we  out  West  call  a  ' '  clincher. ' '  Politics  is  getting  hot, 
angry,  furious  here ;  we  are  determined  to  kill  off  Douglas, 
if  we  can  by  honest,  fair,  manly  means.  We  will  resort  to 
no  wrong,  no  baseness,  no  demogogism,  no  trickery  or 
"truppery."  We  have  charged  Douglas  with  a  conspiracy 
to  enslave  America,  and  we  think  the  proof  incontestible. 
The  whole  Free,  as  well  as  the  Slave  States  look  on  this 
Illinois  battle,  we  suppose,  with  a  good  deal  of  interest. 
How  is  it?  This  State  is  being  fired  up  from  Cairo  to 
Chicago,  and  from  Quincy  to  Paris,  from  center  to  circum 
ference.  Our  Republican  friends  take  high  ground  for 
Freedom  —  as  high  as  our  people  will  bear  just  now.  What 
we  may  do  in  the  future  I  cannot  say.  You  know  the  un- 
der-currents  as  well  as  I  do  —  better  I  dare  say. 

Why  is  it  that  you  Eastern  people  are  for  Douglas;  I 
mean  your  leaders  ?  If  you  have  a  friend,  whom  you  wish 
to  go  to  the  White  House,  tell  him  to  keep  his  fingers  out 
of  our  fight  —  keep  his  wishes  to  himself,  if  he  is  for  Doug 
las.  Greeley  had  better  attend  to  New  York ;  he  will  have 
all  he  can  attend  to  well  at  that.  There  is  something  in  the 
wind,  which  is  not  today  graspable.  It  will  come  some 


198 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDQN 

lime.  I  will  tell  you  in  due  time  —  before  1860.  I  am  out 
making  speeches  —  send  you  a  slip  noticing  one  I  made  in 
Logan  County  a  few  days  ago. 

Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

What  Lincoln  thought  of  the  debates  was  disclosed,  inci 
dentally,  in  a  remark  made  later  at  Quincy,  when  he  said: 
' '  I  was  aware  when  it  was  first  agreed  that  Judge  Douglas  and 
I  were  to  have  these  seven  joint  discussions,  that  they  were 
the  successive  acts  of  a  drama  —  perhaps  .1  should  say  to  be 
enacted  not  merely  in  the  face  of  audiences  like  this,  but  in  the 
face  of  a  Nation,  and  to  some  extent  by  my  relation  to  him  and 
not  from  anything  in  myself,  in  the  face  of  the  world."  So 
he  had  changed  his  style,  largely  eliminating  his  anecdotal 
vein,  his  mimicry,  his  fantastic  humor  —  with  which,  had  he 
used  them,  he  could  probably  have  routed  Douglas  off  the 
stage.  But  he  knew  that  his  words  must  stand  the  test  of 
cold  type  and  be  read  by  thoughtful  men  in  far  away  places, 
when  voice,  manner,  and  gesture  were  withdrawn.  If  he 
could  not  entirely  ignore  the  trivial  and  ephemeral,  his  speech 
es,  especially  in  the  earlier  debates,  were  singularly  free  from 
the  slag  of  the  hour.  No  doubt  this  was  his  chief  aim  at  Free- 
port,  when,  with  his  famous  questions,  he  made  Douglas  face 
some  of  the  real  issues. 

IV 

After  speaking  at  Galesburg,  Macomb,  and  other  points, 
Lincoln  started  north  to  Freeport,  where  the  next  debate  was 
to  be  held  on  August  27th.  He  seems  to  have  been  in  one  of 
his  Hamlet  moods  all  the  way:  indeed,  he  kept  a  copy  of 
Shakespeare  with  him,  and  would  often  slip  away  from  the 
throngs  and  walk  alone  to  read  and  muse  betimes.  Friends 
boarded  the  train  along  the  road,  anxious  to  know  what  ques 
tions  he  intended  to  ask  Douglas;  for  they  knew  the  art  of 
Douglas  in  turning  and  twisting  things  to  his  own  advantage. 
They  also  knew  that  ' '  the  Little  Dodger ' '  was  nonplused  and 
smarting  under  the  charge  that  the  radical  resolutions  upon 
which  he  had  harped  so  effectively  at  Ottawa,  were  a  forgery. 


THE  GBEAT  DEBATES 199 

When  Lincoln  read  his  list  of  interrogatories,  Judd,  Medill, 
Ray,  and  Washburne,  unanimously  counseled  him  not  to  put 
the  second  question.  "  For,"  they  argued,  "  he  will  perceive 
that  an  answer  giving  practical  force  and  effect  to  the  Dred 
Scott  decision  in  the  Territories  inevitably  loses  him  the  battle, 
and  he  will  reply  by  affirming  the  decision  as  an  abstract  prin 
ciple,  but  denying  its  practical  application. ' ' 1 

"If  he  answers  that  way,"  said  Lincoln,  "he  is  a  dead 
cock  in  the  pit;  he  can  never  be  President." 

' '  But  that, ' '  they  insisted,  ' '  is  none  of  your  business ;  you 
are  concerned  only  about  the  Senatorship." 

''  No,  gentlemen,"  continued  Lincoln,  "  not  alone  exactly. 
I  am  killing  bigger  game.  The  battle  of  1860  is  worth  a  hun 
dred  of  this. ' '  So  the  question  was  put,  and  Douglas  answered 
without  hesitation,  and  even  jauntily,  as  follows : 

Can  the  people  of  a  United  States  Territory,  in  any  lawful 
way,  against  the  wish  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
exclude  slavery  from  its  limits  prior  to  the  formation  of  a 
State  constitution? 

It  matters  not  what  way  the  Supreme  Court  may  here 
after  decide  as  to  the  abstract  question  whether  slavery  may 
or  may  not  go  into  a  Territory  under  the  Constitution,  the 
people  have  the  lawful  means  to  introduce  or  exclude  it  as 


i  The  tradition  of  this  conference  has  been  pronounced  a  fiction  by 
some,  particularly  by  Clark  E.  Carr.  —  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  pp.  176-184 
(1909).  One  must  admit  that  the  place  of  the  conference  is  located 
variously,  at  Chicago,  Mendota,  Dixon,  and  Freeport;  but  that  some  sort 
of  protest  by  the  friends  of  Lincoln  was  made,  seems  clear.  Scripps, 
Holland,  Lamon,  Herndon,  Arnold,  Whitney,  Medill,  all,  in  fact,  who  had 
opportunity  to  know  report  such  a  meeting.  Eobert  R.  Hitt  —  as  "  Hill  ' ' 
in  The  Crisis  —  and  Horace  White  confirm  it.  That  Lincoln  did  say  ' '  I 
am  killing  larger  game ;  the  battle  of  1860  is  worth  a  hundred  of  this, ' ' 
is  certainly  true.  As  we  shall  see  in  the  letters  of  Mr.  Herndon,  repro 
duced  in  another  chapter,  he  had  said  this  from  the  beginning  of  the 
campaign.  It  is  true  that  Douglas  had  answered  the  question,  or  at 
least  stated  his  position,  many  times  before,  but  never  on  so  conspicuous 
an  occasion,  and  in  hearing  of  the  whole  nation.  It  is  also  true  that 
some  of  the  friends  of  Lincoln,  Medill  in  particular,  exaggerated  the 
foresight  of  their  leader,  for  it  is  hardly  probable  that  Lincoln  had  any 
reference  to  his  part  in  the  battle  of  1860. 


200 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

they  please,  for  the  reason  that  slavery  cannot  exist  a  day 
or  an  hour  anywhere,  unless  it  is  supported  by  local  police 
regulations.  Those  police  regulations  can  only  be  estab 
lished  by  the  local  legislature ;  and  if  the  people  are  opposed 
to  slavery,  they  will  elect  representatives  to  that  body  who 
will  by  unfriendly  legislation  effectually  prevent  the  intro 
duction  of  it  into  their  midst.  If,  on  the  contrary,  they 
are  for  it,  their  legislation  will  favor  its  extension.  Hence, 
no  matter  what  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  may  be 
on  that  abstract  question,  still  the  right  of  the  people  to 
make  a  Slave  Territory  or  a  Free  Territory  is  perfect  and 
complete  under  the  Nebraska  Bill.  I  hope  Mr.  Lincoln 
deems  my  answer  satisfactory  on  that  point. 

So  far  from  being  cornered,  Douglas  only  repeated  what  he 
had  said  at  Chicago,  Bloomington,  and  Springfield,  and  as 
early  as  1856;  and  he  might  have  added  that  at  least  one 
Southern  Senator  had  said  the  same  thing.  At  Jonesboro,  as 
we  shall  see,  Lincoln  made  a  trenchant  analysis  of  this  answer, 
showing  that  Douglas,  for  all  his  adherence  to  the  Dred  Scott 
decision,  as  to  a  "  thus  saith  the  Lord, ' '  had  devised  a  scheme 
whereby  a  local  legislature  could  effectually  defy  it  and  make 
it  void.  Apart  from  this  thrust,  Lincoln  seems  not  to  have 
attached  any  remote  importance  to  the  ditch  he  was  supposed 
to  be  digging  for  Douglas  and  the  Northern  Democrats,  in  so 
far  as  it  might  affect  their  relations  with  the  South.  Logically 
he  had  scored  heavily,  for  surely  one  cannot  thwart  the  high 
est  law  lawfully ;  but  humanity  is  not  often  logical,  least  of  all 
in  a  time  of  anger  and  crisis.  What  effect,  if  any,  the  ' '  Free- 
port  Doctrine,"  as  it  is  called,  had  on  the  subsequent  career 
of  Senator  Douglas,  no  one  can  tell.  That  it  was  bruited  all 
over  the  South,  with  hostile  comment  in  the  press,  is  true, 
though  perhaps  he  counteracted  it  by  his  use  of  race  prejudice 
in  the  debate.  At  any  rate,  after  1858  events  moved  with  such 
rapidity  and  confusion  that  no  one  can  trace  the  influence  of 
this  dogma. 

Of  the  questions  propounded  to  Lincoln,  only  one  gave  him 
any  trouble ;  and  that  was  as  to  whether  he  would  admit  new 
Slave  States.  He  replied,  categorically,  that  he  was  not 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 201 

pledged  against  admitting  a  new  Slave  State,  but  that  he  should 
be  exceedingly  sorry  ever  to  be  put  in  a  position  of  having  to 
pass  upon  that  question.  Yet  should  the  people  of  a  Terri 
tory,  having  a  fair  chance  and  a  clear  field,  uninfluenced  by 
the  actual  presence  of  the  evil  among  them,  do  such  an  extra 
ordinary  thing  as  to  adopt  a  slave  constitution,  he  saw  no 
alternative,  if  we  own  the  country,  but  to  admit  them  into  the 
Union.1  This  was  indeed  a  most  reluctant  and  hesitating  an 
swer,  of  which  the  wily  Douglas  was  not  slow  to  make  note. 
For  the  rest,  the  Freeport  debate  was  decidedly  a  Lincoln 
victory,  though  the  bombastic  ranting  of  Douglas  made  it 
seem  otherwise  to  those  to  whom  sound  and  fury  signified 
much.  On  the  day  following  the  debate  Theodore  Parker  wrote 
to  his  Western  friend,  blistering  Douglas  and  Greeley,  while 
predicting  the  victory  of  Seward  in  1860 : 

Boston,  Mass.,  Aug.  28,  1858. 
Hon.  W.  H.  Herndon. 

My  Dear  Sir : — Thanks  for  your  kind  letter  and  the  be 
nevolent  things  you  say  about  my  sermons.  I  look  with 
great  interest  on  the  contest  in  your  State,  and  read  the 
speeches,  the  noble  speeches  of  Mr.  Lincoln  with  enthusiasm. 
One  I  saw  in  the  Tribune  of  last  week  will  injure  Douglas 
very  much.  I  never  recommended  the  Republicans  to  adopt 
Douglas  into  their  family.  I  said  in  a  speech  last  January, 
"  he  is  a  mad  dog;  "  just  now  he  is  barking  at  the  wolf 
which  has  torn  our  sheep.  But  he  himself  is  more  danger 
ous  than  the  wolf.  I  think  I  should  not  let  him  into  the 
fold. 


i  When  Douglas  "trotted  Lincoln  down  into  Egypt,"  he  harped 
loudly  upon  this  hesitating  and  evasive  answer.  "  Let  me  tell  Mr.  Lin 
coln  that  his  party  in  the  northern  part  of  the  State  hold  to  that  Aboli 
tion  platform,  and  if  they  do  not  in  the  south  and  center,  they  present  the 
extraordinary  spectacle  of  a  house  divided  against  itself. ' '  Lamon,  ap 
parently  on  the  authority  of  Judge  Logan,  says  that  in  the  struggle  for 
the  Senate  in  1855,  Lincoln  pledged  himself  to  Lovejoy  and  his  faction 
in  favor  of  no  more  Slave  States.  Douglas  did  not  certainly  know  of 
such  a  pledge,  but  he  suspected  some  sort  of  understanding;  hence  his 
persistence  on  this  point.  —  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  W.  H.  Lamon,  pp  361- 
365  (1872).  But  Lincoln  said  he  was  not  so  pledged,  and  never  had 
been,  which  makes  the  story  ef  Lamon  hardly  credible. 


202 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Greeley  is  not  fit  for  a  leader.  He  is  capricious,  crochety, 
full  of  whims,  and  as  wrong  headed  as  a  pig.  How  he  talks 
on  political  economy,  which  he  knows  so  little  about !  How 
he  took  the  side  of  Russia  in  the  Crimean  War!  How  he 
is  now  unwilling  to  object  to  the  admission  of  a  new  Slave 
State,  and  what  a  mean  defense  of  a  mean  speech!  He  is 
honest,  I  think,  but  pitiably  weak  for  a  man  in  such  a  posi 
tion.  But  he  is  quite  humane,  and  surrounds  himself  with 
some  of  the  best  talent  in  the  country.  Do  you  see  what  the 
Richmond  Whig  says  about  Buchanan ;  that  means  that  the 
Whig  is  fattening  Edward  Everett  for  the  Presidency. 
Much  good  may  it  do  him.  I  think  the  Republican  party 
will  nominate  Seward  for  the  Presidency,  and  elect  him  in 
1860;  then  the  wedge  is  entered  and  will  be  driven  home. 
Yours  truly,  THEODORE  PARKER. 

No  one,  of  all  those  who  have  written  of  these  stormy  days,  has 
drawn  such  a  political  map  of  Illinois  as  is  found  in  the  reply 
of  Herndon  to  the  above  letter.  He  describes  the  situation 
with  singular  fidelity,  setting  forth  the  difficulties,  while  watch 
ing  the  words  of  Douglas  with  special  reference  to  the  "  land 
lust  of  the  Slave-Power."  The  letter  is  as  valuable  as  it  is 
vivid : 

Springfield,  111.,  August  31,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir : — I  have  but  a  moment  to  spare,  and  I  propose 
to  devote  it  to  you.  I  have  been  out  on  the  stump,  doing 
all  I  can  for  Republicanism.  The  politics  now  in  our  State 
are  in  the  blue-hot  condition;  it  has  ceased  to  sparkle,  but 
now  it  burns.  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Senator  Douglas  have  had 
two  "  hitches,"  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  good  sensible  men 
that  so  far  Lincoln  has  the  decided  advantage. 

In  their  late  debate  at  Freeport,  Douglas  took  the  stand 
that  at  present  we  needed  no  more  territory.  You  remem 
ber  I  told  you  what  Douglas  told  me,  at  Washington,  that 
he  would  oppose  the  acquisition  of  Cuba,  Central  America, 
etc.  He  seems  as  good  as  his  word.  You  know  I  told  you 
what  he  said  about  the  passage  of  Lecompton ;  it  turned 
out  as  he  said,  and  doubtless  you  recollect  other  pledges  he 
made  me,  and  which  I  told  you  when  in  Boston.  When  I 
once  told  you  by  letter,  that  if  I  could  once  ' '  look  Douglas 
in  the  eye  "  I  could  tell  what  he  intended,  you  supposed, 
doubtless,  that  I  was  quite  arrogant,  did  you  not?  By  the 


THE  GREAT  DEBATES 203 

by,  do  you  remember  what  I  told  you  about  Friend  Greeley, 
that  is,  that  the  Republican  platform  was  too  ' '  hif alutin, ' ' 
too  abstract,  in  his  opinion,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  lowered 
— ' '  slid  down  ?  ' '  What  is  now  unfortunately  taking  place  1 
I  fear  the  Republican  platform  will  get  deeper  in  the 
' '  hell  ' '  direction  than  the  old  Whig  platform  for  measures. 
I  hope  you  will  continue  to  remember  my  conversation  with 
you,  not  because  I  said  it,  but  because  what  was  said  was 
uttered  by  greater  men.  I  always  tell  you  the  truth  —  never 
dodge. 

If  you  remember,  our  State  is  a  peculiar  one  politically : 
first,  we  have  a  north  which  is  all  intelligence,  all  for  free 
dom.  Secondly,  we  have  a  South,  people  from  the  sand  hills 
of  the  South,  poor  white  folks.  These  are  pro-slavery  and 
ignorant  "up  to  the  hub."  And  thirdly,  we  have  a  belt 
of  land,  seventy-five  miles  in  width,  running  from  the  east 
bank  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  Wabash  —  to  Indiana;  and 
running  north  and  south,  from  Bloomington  to  Alton.  In 
or  upon  this  strip  or  belt  of  land  this  "  great  battle  "  be 
tween  Lincoln  and  Douglas  is  to  be  fought  and  victory  won. 
On  this  belt  are  three  classes  of  individuals :  first,  Yankees ; 
secondly,  intelligent  Southerners ;  and  thirdly,  poor  whites. 
I  now  speak  sectionally.  Again:  on  this  belt  are  four  po 
litical  shades  of  party  politics:  first,  Republicans;  second, 
Americans  (old  Whigs);  third,  Douglas  Democrats;  and 
fourth,  National  Democrats,  Buchanan  men.  "  Quite  a 
muss."  Two  of  these  parties  are  acting  as  one;  they  are 
the  Republicans  and  Fillmore  men.  They  have  a  majority 
over  both  factions  of  the  Democracy.  The  materials  we 
have  to  struggle  against  are  roving,  Buffalo,  Catholic  Irish, 
backed  and  guided  by  the  Democracy  in  the  North.  They 
will  be  run  down  here  on  pretense  of  getting  a  job,  and  so 
in  the  closely  contested  fight  they  will  carry,  we  fear,  the 
uncertain  counties.  These  hell-doomed  Irish  are  all  for 
Douglas,  and  opposed,  here,  to  the  National  Administration. 

I  hope  you  can  understand  this  complication.  I  give  to 
you  as  my  opinion,  and  the  opinion  of  good,  honest  Repub 
licans,  that  we  will  crush  Douglas  and  pro-slaveryism.  I 
give  it  now  as  my  opinion  that  Lincoln  will  be  our  next 
United  States  Senator  for  Illinois.  Your  friend, 

W.  H.  HERNDON. 

If  the  State  was  "  in  a  blue-hot  condition  "  following  the 
Freeport  encounter,  it  became  hotter  still,  if  possible,  as  by 


204 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

slow  stages,  speaking  incessantly  at  all  sorts  of  meetings,  Lin 
coln  and  Douglas  made  their  way  down  through  the  debatable 
belt  to  Egypt.  Had  the  election  been  held  in  early  July, 
Douglas  would  have  carried  the  State  by  an  overwhelming 
majority,  but  the  tide  was  beginning  to  turn.  As  we  shall 
see  in  the  letters  of  Herndon,  Republican  hopes  went  skyward 
with  great  glee,  and  the  Democrats  became  correspondingly 
bitter  and  glum.  Greeley  afterwards  said  truly  that  Lincoln 
was  a  great  convincer  of  men,  and  in  a  difficult  situation  could 
do  his  cause  more  good  and  less  harm  than  any  man  of  his 
day.  We  have  now  to  follow  him  through  the  wild  and  stormy 
scenes  of  the  closing  debates,  in  which,  if  he  sometimes  lost 
his  temper,  he  never  lost  his  wits. 


CHAPTER  VH 

The  Closing  Debates 

With  his  powerful  voice  and  facile  energy,  Douglas  had  en 
tered  the  campaign  under  full  steam,  confident  of  success,  and 
determined  to  win  at  any  cost.  His  vanity  was  colossal,  and 
he  lost  no  opportunity  to  emphasize  his  superiority  over  his 
adversary,  if  not  indeed  over  every  other  man  in  the  nation. 
At  Ottawa  his  strut  was  impressive,  and  to  his  followers  over 
whelming,  as  though  Lincoln  in  his  grasp  was  as  a  mouse  be 
ing  shaken  by  a  lion.  All  that  he  had  to  do,  so  he  seems  to 
have  felt,  was  to  fasten  upon  his  opponent  the  stigma  of  Abo 
litionism,  and  to  belittle  his  personal  history  and  political  pre 
tensions.  But  Lincoln,  though  vexed  at  first,  was  in  nowise 
overawed  by  so  much  greatness,  and  soon  let  his  opponent 
know  that  there  was  serious  business  on  hand. 

As  Douglas  began  to  realize  that  the  tide  had  turned  toward 
Lincoln,  he  lost  some  of  his  confidence  and  all  of  his  manners. 
Nothing  could  surpass  the  imperious  and  truculent  offensive- 
ness  of  his  behavior  at  Freeport.  Deterred  by  no  feeling  of 
humility,  no  sense  of  fairness,  no  regard  for  the  amenities  of 
debate,  he  resorted  to  all  the  devices  of  a  back-alley  dema 
gogue,  denying  facts,  dodging  arguments,  playing  upon  preju 
dice,  and  hurling  epithets  with  a  fluency  that  scarcely  another 
man  of  his  day  could  equal.  A  Republican  was  always  a 
"  black  Republican,"  despite  the  protest  of  more  than  one 
audience  that  he  change  the  color  and  "  make  it  a  little 
brown. ' '  Negroes,  he  said,  were  stumping  for  ' '  their  brother 
Abe,"  who,  with  Trumbull,  was  leading  a  "  white,  black  and 
mixed  drove  of  disappointed  politicians  ' '  armed  with  slander. 
While  pretending  to  greatness,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  stoop  to 
every  cheap  and  trivial  trick  of  gutter-rabble  debate. 


206  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 


Still  calling  Lincoln  and  Trumbull  liars,  and  expatiating  upon 
the  mob  spirit  prevalent  in  the  "  black  Republican  "  party, 
the  Senator  wended  his  way  southward  to  find  a  more  con 
genial  climate.  All  along  he  had  been  eager  to  "  trot  Lin 
coln  down  into  Egypt,"  threatening  what  would  happen  to 
him  when  he  proclaimed  his  "  negro  equality  "  in  that  sec 
tion.  What  was  really  happening  in  the  central  and  south 
ern  counties  was  portrayed,  in  part  at  least,  in  a  characteristic 
ally  vivid  letter  from  Herndon  to  Parker,  describing  the  state 
of  feeling  and  some  of  the  causes  of  the  anger  of  Douglas : 

Springfield,  111.,  Sept.  2,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir: — I  wrote  you  on  yesterday  a  hasty  letter,  but 
I  hope  you  can  understand ;  and  I  am  now  just  on  the  eve 
of  taking  another  tour,  just  having  got  back.  My  object  in 
bothering  you  is  this:  I  want  to  put  the  facts  of  this  can 
vass  clearly  before  you,  so  that  you  may  form  a  tolerably 
correct  opinion.  My  letter  on  yesterday  was  specially  de 
voted  to  conditions  of  localities,  and  to  the  complication  of 
parties. 

Now,  in  this  I  propose  to  speak  especially  of  the  state  of 
feeling,  first  in  the  individual,  and  then  in  the  whole  masses. 
You  are  aware  that  I  am  a  kind  of  "  clever  boy  "  among 
our  people,  and  consequently  all  treat  me  respectfully  — 
go  all  places  and  say  all  things.  This  gives  me  a  view  of 
the  family  circle.  Here  I  hear  them  talk  and  sputter  in 
their  own  way  —  look  out  of  their  own  eyes.  I  state  to  you 
from  this  standpoint,  that  the  spirit  of  Liberty,  Freedom 
every  way,  is  flooding  out  and  clothing  the  outer  clouds 
with  frills  of  gold  and  fire.  This  is  not  only  so  in  the  Re 
publican  party,  but  it  is  so  with  respect  to  the  Democratic. 
This  disposition  has  reached  to  places  very  remote.  In 
places  that  I  came  near  being  mobbed  in  1855  and  '56  men 
are  this  day  aware  of  the  truth,  and  are  somewhat  aroused 
on  all  questions  of  Freedom.  This  is  so  in  religion.  One 
good  thing  has  resulted  from  Douglas 's  war  on  the  clergy : 
it  has  opened  the  people 's  eyes  in  that  direction ;  they  have 
in  fact  commenced  a  series  of  inquiries.  The  world  wags, 
I  assure  you.  I  have  been  in  the  south  part  of  the  State, 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES 207 

"  on  the  sly,"  organizing  clubs,  etc.,  and  know  what  I  am 
talking  about.  The  huge  mass  begins,  just  begins,  to  move. 
It  moves,  it  is  true,  heavily  and  gruntingly,  yet  it  does 
move.  This  is  the  state  of  individuals  and  the  condition  of 
the  masses.  Apply  it,  as  you  will  do,  and  it  follows  that 
the  people  are  ready  to  hear.  They  do  hear  Douglas  and 
Lincoln.  Five  thousand  go;  ten,  twenty,  thirty  thousand, 
it  is  said,  go. 

In  the  debates  between  Douglas  and  Lincoln,  Douglas 
is  mad,  is  wild,  and  sometimes  I  should  judge  "  half  seas 
over. ' '  Douglas  gets  mad :  he  calls  Lincoln  a  liar ;  he  calls 
Trumbull  a  liar.  I  heard  Judge  Trumbull  here  a  few  days 
since,  and  saw  him  demonstrate  that  Douglas  struck  out  of 
the  Toombs  Bill  that  provision  which  required  a  submission 
of  the  Lecompton  constitution  to  the  people.  I  saw  him 
demonstrate  that  Douglas  put  another  provision  in  the  bill 
absolutely  prohibiting  the  people  from  voting  on  the  con 
stitution.  These  things  I  saw  proved  by  the  original  papers, 
printed  at  Washington.  Again:  Douglas  says  that  the  Re 
publicans  of  Illinois  in  1854  passed  some  resolutions,  as 
their  platform.  He  makes  this  charge  boldly  at  Ottawa, 
and  now  at  Freeport  they  prove  that  the  ones  he  read  are 
base  forgeries,  never  having  been  passed  by  the  Republi 
cans.  He  is  compelled  by  public  invitation  in  all  parties  to 
withdraw  these  forgery  charges.  Pie  does  so,  and  basely 
charges  Major  Harris  as  the  perpetrator. 

Again :  he  asserts  that  in  1854-56  he  was  in  favor  of 
"  squatter  sovereignty,"  and  said  so  on  a  thousand  stumps 
—  real  squatter  sovereignty,  that  is,  that  the  people  of  Illi 
nois  might  drive  slavery  out  at  any  time.  Now  Lincoln  is 
prepared  by  one  of  Douglas's  printed  speeches  to  prove  that 
Douglas  was  the  other  way.  In  short,  that  he  wilfully  lied. 
So  it  goes.  While  Douglas  enunciates  "  lie,  lie,  black 
guards,"  etc.,  they  are  demonstrating  to  vast  crowds  by 
the  record  that  he  is  a  good  liar  and  a  forger.  The  whole 
State  is  up  in  arms,  politically  so,  I  mean.  Excitement  rolls 
and  chafes;  it  really  foams.  Believe  me,  Douglas  is  losing 
ground  every  day.  As  Douglas  sinks,  Lincoln  rises.  We 
are  getting  along  grandly.  Douglas  is  "  sorter  "  cowed. 
Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

By  this  time  Mr.  Parker  had  read  reports  of  the  speeches  made 
in  the  debate  at  Ottawa,  and  was  frankly  disappointed  that 
Lincoln  did  not  face  the  questions  as  stated  in  the  resolutions, 


208 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

whether  forged  or  not.  Even  with  Herndon's  political  map 
of  Illinois  before  him,  he  seemed  not  to  grasp  the  dilemma  in 
which  Lincoln  was  placed  by  having  to  avoid  the  Abolition 
position  on  the  one  side,  while  not  permitting  Douglas  to  force 
him  to  disavow  his  repugnance  to  slavery  on  the  other.  Nor 
did  he  understand  that  Lincoln,  so  far  from  being  an  Aboli 
tionist,  had  no  inclination  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the 
States  where  it  existed,  but  was  only  seeking  to  check  the 
spread  of  it.  Mr.  Parker  wrote,  once  more  paying  his  respects 
to  Greeley: 

Boston,  Mass.,  Sept.  9,  1858. 
Hon.  Mr.  Herndon. 

My  Dear  Sir : — Many  thanks  for  your  two  very  interest 
ing  and  instructive  letters.  You  make  the  case  quite  clear. 
I  look  with  intense  interest  on  the  contest  now  raging  in 
Illinois.  There  is  but  one  great  question  before  the  people : 
Shall  we  admit  Slavery  as  a  principle  and  found  a  Democ 
racy,  or  Freedom  as  a  principle  and  found  a  Despotism? 
This  question  comes  up  in  many  forms,  and  men  take  sides  on 
it.  The  great  mass  of  people  but  poorly  see  the  question; 
their  leaders  are  often  knaves  and  often  fools.  But 
Quidquid  delirant  reges,  plectuntur  Achivi. 

I  make  no  doubt  Douglas  will  be  beaten.  I  thought  so 
in  1854,  and  looked  on  him  then  as  a  ruined  man.  What 
you  told  me  last  spring  has  all  come  to  pass.  I  am  glad 
Trumbull  has  demonstrated  what  you  name.  I  thought  it 
could  be  done.  But  in  the  Ottawa  meeting,  to  judge  from 
the  Tribune  report,  I  thought  Douglas  had  the  best  of  it. 
He  questioned  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  great  matters  of  Slavery, 
and  put  the  most  radical  questions,  which  go  to  the  heart 
of  the  question,  before  the  people.  Mr.  Lincoln  did  not 
meet  the  issue.  He  made  a  technical  evasion;  "  he  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  resolutions  in  question."  Suppose 
he  had  not,  admit  they  were  forged.  Still  they  were  the 
vital  questions  pertinent  to  the  issue,  and  Lincoln  dodged 
them.  That  is  not  the  way  to  fight  the  battle  of  freedom. 

You  say  right  —  that  an  attempt  is  making  to  lower  the 
Republican  platform.  Depend  upon  it,  this  effort  will  ruin 
the  party.  It  ruined  the  Whigs  in  1840  to  1848.  Daniel 
Webster  stood  on  higher  anti-slavery  ground  than  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  now.  Greeley 's  conduct,  I  think,  is  base.  I 
had  never  any  confidence  in  him.  He  has  no  talent  for  a 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES 209 

leader.  If  the  Republicans  sacrifice  their  principles  for 
success,  they  will  not  be  lifted  up,  but  blown  up.  I  trust 
Lincoln  will  conquer.  It  is  an  admirable  education  for  the 
masses,  this  fight.  Yours  truly, 

THEODORE  PARKER. 

Aside  from  the  honest  conservatism  of  Lincoln,  there  was  still 
another  reason,  hints  of  which  Mr.  Herndon  gave  in  his  reply, 
for  his  caution.  The  Dred  Scott  decision  which  permitted  the 
holding  of  slaves  in  every  Territory,  and  by  inference  in  every 
State,  had  alarmed  the  North.  That  was  the  point  where  all 
the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  North  came  together,  and 
Lincoln  was  wise  in  pressing  it,  which  he  did  to  the  utter  dis 
comfiture  of  his  opponent.  Mr.  Herndon  wrote  in  reply : 

Springfield,  111.,  Sept.  11,  1858. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir: — I  this  moment  landed  at  home,  having  been 
up  in  Christian  County  addressing  her  people  on  the  terri 
ble  issues  of  the  day.  This  fact  will  account,  I  hope,  for 
delay.  I  wholly  agree  with  you  about  Greeley,  but  dared 
not  say  so  before  you.  He  is,  I  think,  honest,  but  a  great 
special  fool.  He  wants  a  guide  to  his  brain;  he  is,  as  you 
say,  full  of  whims  and  crochets,  writing  up  absurdities ;  and 
on  no  one  principle  is  he  a  greater  ninny  than  on  the  sub 
ject  of  "  national  political  economy."  Here  he  is  behind 
the  age  —  here  he  loses  sight  of  principle,  which  blazes  all 
around  him.  He  struggles  for  liberty,  but  refuses,  ab 
surdly  so,  to  follow  it  to  its  just  practical  results.  He  is  a 
good  man,  but  he  does  not  see  the  force  or  logic  of  princi 
ple  —  does  not  see  far  ahead. 

By  the  by,  Greeley  has  done  us  infinite  harm  here  in 
Illinois,  and  is  still  doing  so ;  he  is  "  sorter,  sorter "-  —  is  this 
way  and  that  —  is  no  way,  and  this  course  injures  us  here 
very  much.  He  and  Douglas  have  an  arrangement,  which 
I  will  explain  to  you  soon,  as  is  charged  and  as  I  under 
stand  it.  You  remember  what  I  told  you  about  Greeley 
and  Douglas ;  that  is,  what  they  mutually  told  me  when  on 
my  trip  East.  We  are  getting  very  warm  here  —  boiling, 
and  the  Republican  cause  is  gaining  every  day.  I  send 
you  a  "  leaf  "  of  Lincoln's  speech  made  in  this  city  some 
time  since.  This  will  explain  our  difficulties. 

Your  friend,         W.  H.  HERNDON. 


210 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDQN 

Instead  of  being  weak  in  the  knees,  as  Douglas  had  predicted 
he  would  be,  when  they  arrived  in  Egypt,  Lincoln  seemed  to 
be  very  much  at  home ;  for  he  had  grown  up  in  that  region,  and 
knew  the  people  better  than  Douglas  did.  Not  only  so ;  owing 
to  the  activity  of  United  States  Marshal  Dougherty,  a  nominee 
on  the  Buchanan  ticket,  the  vicinity  of  Jonesboro,  where  the 
third  debate  was  to  be  held,  was  even  more  hostile  to  Douglas 
than  to  Lincoln.  Evidently  Egypt  had  been  smitten  with  a 
plague,  for  the  meeting  at  Jonesboro  on  September  15th  was 
as  poorly  attended  as  it  was  chary  of  applause;  and  both 
speakers  had  to  make  bricks  without  straw.  Douglas  opened 
the  debate  by  a  wild  and  rabid  appeal  to  partisan  passion,  re 
iterating  all  his  stock  arguments,  renewing  his  charge  of  a  cor 
rupt  bargain  between  Lincoln  and  Trumbull  —  quoting  an  al 
leged  statement  of  Matheny  in  proof  —  and  accusing  his  op 
ponent  of  changing  the  color  of  his  speeches,  which,  he  said, 
were  jet-black  in  the  north,  a  decent  mulatto  in  the  center,  and 
almost  white  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State.  Lincoln  brushed 
these  lesser  matters  aside  briefly,  and  attacked  what  had  come 
to  be  known  as  "  the  Freeport  doctrine  "  of  Douglas,  which 
affirmed  that,  despite  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
slavery  could  not  exist  without  ' '  friendly  local  legislation  and 
appropriate  police  regulations."  He  did,  however,  beg  leave 
to  doubt  the  authenticity  of  the  Matheny  statement,  in  view 
of  the  Ottawa  episode.  After  analyzing  the  answer  made 
by  Douglas  at  Freeport,  he  added  another  question  to  his 
list: 

I  hold  that  the  proposition  that  slavery  cannot  enter  a 
new  Territory  without  police  regulations  is  historically 
false.  .  .  .  The  history  of  this  country  shows  that  the  insti 
tution  of  slavery  was  originally  planted  upon  this  continent 
without  these  "  police  regulations  "  which  Judge  Douglas 
now  thinks  necessary  for  the  actual  establishment  of  it.  Not 
only  so,  but  there  is  another  fact  —  how  came  the  Dred 
Scott  decision  to  be  made?  It  was  made  upon  the  case  of 
a  negro  being  taken  and  actually  held  in  slavery  in  Minne 
sota  Territory,  claiming  his  freedom  because  the  act  of  Con 
gress  prohibited  his  being  so  held  there.  Will  the  Judge 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES 211 

pretend  that  Dred  Scott  was  not  held  there  without  police 
regulations?  .  .  .  This  shows  that  there  is  vigor  enough  in 
slavery  to  plant  itself  in  a  new  country  even  against  un 
friendly  legislation.  It  takes  not  only  law  but  the  enforce 
ment  of  law  to  keep  it  out.  .  .  .If  you  were  elected  mem 
bers  of  the  Legislature,  what  would  be  the  first  thing  you 
would  have  to  do  before  entering  upon  your  duties  ?  Swear 
to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Suppose 
you  believe,  as  Judge  Douglas  does,  that  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  guarantees  to  your  neighbor  the  right 
to  hold  slaves  in  that  Territory  —  that  they  are  his  property 
—  how  can  you  clear  your  oaths  unless  you  give  him  such 
legislation  as  is  necessary  to  enable  him  to  enjoy  that  prop 
erty?  .  .  .  And  what  I  say  here  will  hold  with  still  more 
force  against  the  Judge's  doctrine  of  "  unfriendly  legisla 
tion."  How  could  you,  having  sworn  to  support  the  Con 
stitution,  and  believing  it  guaranteed  the  right  to  hold 
slaves  in  the  Territories,  assist  in  legislation  intended  to  de 
feat  that  right  ?  .  .  .  Not  only  so,  but  if  you  were  to  do  so,  how 
long  would  it  take  the  courts  to  hold  your  votes  unconstitu 
tional  and  void  ?  Not  a  moment.  .  .  .  Here  I  propose  to  give 
the  Judge  my  fifth  interrogatory,  which  he  may  take  and 
answer  at  his  leisure: 

If  the  slaveholding  citizens  of  a  United  States  Terri 
tory  should  need  and  demand  Congressional  legislation  for 
the  protection  of  their  slave  property  in  such  Territory, 
would  you,  as  a  member  of  Congress,  vote  for  or  against 
such  legislation? 

"  Will  you  repeat  that?  "  said  Douglas.    "  I  want  to  answer 
that  question." 

Lincoln  repeated  it,  but  Douglas,  instead  of  answering  it, 
dodged  it  by  taking  refuge  in  his  favorite  dogma  to  which 
Lincoln  was  wont  to  refer  satirically,  mimicking  the  manner 
of  Douglas,  as  "  the  gur-reat  pur-rinciple  of  popular  sov 
ereignty."  At  the  close  of  his  speech  Lincoln  was  really  an 
gry,  when,  by  a  strange  lapse,  he  descended  to  make  note  of  a 
playful  remark  uttered  by  Douglas  at  Joliet,  to  the  effect  that 
when  at  Ottawa  he  had  threatened  to  "  trot  Lincoln  down 
into  Egypt, ' '  the  latter  became  so  weak  that  he  had  to  be  car 
ried  from  the  platform  —  referring  to  the  incident  at  Ottawa 
when  two  young  farmers  took  Lincoln  upon  their  shoulders 


212 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

and  carried  him  in  triumph  from  the  scene,  while  five  thousand 
people  joined  in  the  ovation.  After  dwelling  upon  the  remark 
of  Douglas,  he  finally  said:  "  I  don't  want  to  quarrel  with 
him  —  to  call  him  a  liar  —  but  when  I  come  square  up  to  him 
I  don't  know  what  else  to  call  him,  if  I  must  tell  the  truth 
out." 

On  their  way  to  the  next  debate,  both  men  paused  to  visit 
the  State  Fair,  then  in  full  blast  at  Centralia,  and  curious 
crowds  followed  the  rivals  through  the  grounds,  deeming  them 
more  attractive  than  the  exhibits.  Fifteen  thousand  people 
assembled  at  Charleston  to  hear  the  discussion  on  September 
18th.  Again  there  were  long  processions  with  bands  and  ban 
ners,  the  women  taking  part  in  behalf  of  Lincoln.  Thirty-two 
girls,  representing  the  thirty-two  States,  rode  in  a  long,  decor 
ated  wagon  on  which  was  inscribed : 

The  girls  link  on  to  Lincoln, 
As  their  mothers  linked  to  Clay ! 

So  far  Lincoln  had  been  content  to  deny  the  charge  that  he 
was  advocating  the  political  and  social  equality  of  negroes 
and  whites,  and  while  there  may  have  been  some  variation  of 
emphasis  in  different  parts  of  the  State  his  position  was  con 
sistent  and  clear.  He  held  that  the  authors  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  intended  to  include  all  men  as  equal,  not  in 
all  respects  —  in  color,  size,  moral  development,  or  social  capa 
city  —  but  only  equal  in  certain  inalienable  rights.  While  he 
did  not  affirm  that  the  negro  was  his  equal  in  moral  or  intel 
lectual  endowment,  he  insisted  that  in  the  right  to  eat  the 
bread  which  his  own  hands  had  earned,  without  the  leave  of 
anybody  else,  the  black  man  was  his  equal,  the  equal  of  Sen 
ator  Douglas,  and  the  equal  of  any  living  man.  Nor  could  he 
be  held  to  account  for  any  other  position,  except  by  some 
"  specious  and  fantastic  arrangement  of  words  by  which  a 
man  can  prove  a  horse-chestnut  to  be  a  chestnut  horse. ' '  But 
in  the  hotel  at  Charleston  some  one  had  asked  him  about  this 
matter,  and  in  opening  the  debate  he  stated  his  position  in  a 
manner  which  grated  upon  the  feelings  of  some  anti-slavery 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES 213 

men,  as  betraying  too  much  of  the  spirit  of  caste  and  too  much 
prejudice  against  color.1 

I  will  say  that  I  am  not,  nor  ever  have  been,  in  favor  of 
bringing  about  in  any  way  the  social  and  political  equality 
of  the  white  and  black  races ;  that  I  am  not  in  favor  of  mak 
ing  voters  or  jurors  of  negroes,  nor  of  qualifying  them  to 
hold  office,  nor  to  intermarry  with  white  people.  .  .  .  There 
is  a  physical  difference  between  the  white  and  black  races 
which  I  believe  will  forever  forbid  the  two  races  living  to 
gether  on  terms  of  social  and  political  equality.  And  inas 
much  as  they  cannot  so  live,  while  they  do  remain  together 
there  must  be  the  position  of  superior  and  inferior,  and  I 
as  much  as  any  other  man  am  in  favor  of  having  the  supe 
rior  position  assigned  to  the  white  race.  ...  I  do  not  per 
ceive  that  because  the  white  man  is  to  have  the  superior 
position  the  negro  must  be  denied  everything.  I  do  not 
understand  that  because  I  do  not  want  a  negro  woman  for 
a  slave  I  must  necessarily  want  her  for  a  wife.  My  under 
standing  is  that  I  can  just  let  her  alone.  ...  I  have  never 
had  the  least  apprehension  that  I  or  my  friends  would 
marry  negroes  if  there  was  no  law  to  keep  them  from  it; 
but  as  Judge  Douglas  and  his  friends  seem  to  be  in  great 
apprehension  that  they  might,  if  there  were  no  law  to  keep 
them  from  it,  I  give  him  the  most  solemn  pledge  that  I  will 
to  the  very  last  stand  by  the  law  of  this  State,  which  forbids 
the  marrying  of  white  people  with  negroes. 

And  in  his  rejoinder  he  added:  I  am  not  in  favor  of 
negro  citizenship.  My  opinion  is  that  the  different  States 
have  the  power  to  make  a  negro  a  citizen  under  the  Consti 
tution  if  they  choose.  The  Dred  Scott  decision  decides  that 
they  have  not  the  power.  If  the  State  of  Illinois  had  that 
power  I  should  be  opposed  to  the  exercise  of  it.  That  is  all 
I  have  to  say  about  it. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  contest  Senator  Trumbull  had  charg 
ed  that  Douglas  had  besmirched  himself  in  connection  with 
the  Toombs  Bill,  helping  to  strike  from  it  the  provision  per 
mitting  the  people  of  Kansas  to  submit  the  constitution  to  a 
vote.  Douglas  denied  that  the  bill  contained  any  such  pro 
vision,  and  branded  Trumbull  as  a  liar.  Lincoln,  more  ag- 

1  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power,  by  Henry  Wilson,  Vol.  II,  p. 
576   (1872). 


214  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

gressive  than  he  had  been  before,  now  took  it  up  and  resented 
such  gross  attacks  upon  Senator  Trumbull.  He  reviewed  the 
devious  course  of  the  Toombs  infamy  and  proved,  by  unques 
tionable  evidence,  that  it  did  embody  such  a  provision,  and 
thus,  if  not  convicting  Douglas  of  the  original  offence,  proved 
that  he  had  stated  an  untruth  in  the  matter.  The  charge  of 
conspiracy,  hitherto  vague  and  shadowy,  became  definite  and 
effective,  and  Lincoln  suggested  to  Douglas  that  "  it  will  not 
avail  him  at  all  that  he  swells  himself  up,  takes  on  dignity,  and 
calls  people  liars. ' '  Douglas  was  furious,  as  he  had  reason  to 
be  under  such  a  charge,  which  meant  that  while  proclaiming 
"  popular  sovereignty  "  he  was  plotting  to  overthrow  it. 

Both  men  were  angry,  and  blows  fell  thick  and  fast.  In  re 
taliating  Douglas  revived  the  old  yarn  that  Lincoln,  while  in 
Congress,  had  voted  against  furnishing  supplies  to  the  army 
during  the  Mexican  "War.  Whereupon,  Lincoln  seized  0.  B. 
Ficklin,  a  Democrat  who  had  been  in  Congress  with  him  in  the 
forties,  and  who  personally  knew  that  Douglas  "  lied,"  lead 
ing  the  man  forward  as  a  witness  with  such  muscular  force 
that  he  could  not  resist.  Ficklin  afterward  said  that  Lincoln 
shook  all  the  Democracy  out  of  him  that  day.  Though  neither 
charge  has  any  value  for  us,  Lincoln  believed  that  Douglas  did 
help  to  concoct  the  Toombs  Bill,  and  so  thorough  was  his  cir 
cumstantial  demonstration  that  he  said  that  his  opponent 
might  as  well  call  Euclid  a  liar.  Both  friend  and  foe  were 
glad  when  time  was  called  upon  Lincoln,  for  all  felt  that  Doug 
las  had  had  enough,  and  that  it  was  time  to  let  up  on  him.1 

i  According  to  I.  N.  Arnold,  Douglas  could  not  keep  hia  seat,  but 
walked  rapidly  up  and  down  the  platform,  watch  in  hand,  obviously 
impatient  for  the  call  of  "  time."  The  instant  the  second  hand  reached 
the  point,  he  called  out:  "  Sit  down,  Lincoln,  sit  down.  Your  time  is 
up."  Turning  to  Douglas,  Lincoln  said:  "  I  will.  I  will  quit.  My 
time  is  up."  —  Life  of  Lincoln,  p.  148  (1884).  But  Horace  White,  who 
was  present,  remembers  no  such  incident.  And,  though  Douglas  was 
doubtless  glad  when  "  time  "  was  called,  he  was  too  wily  a  man  to 
display  such  restiveness,  even  if  he  felt  it.  But  it  is  true  that  on  that 
day  he  was  taught  a  lesson,  as  no  doubt  Lincoln  regretted  his  exhibition 
of  ire. 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES  215 

II 

At  last  Mr.  Herndon  "  let  the  cat  out  of  the  bag  "  and  told 
the  secret,  of  which  he  had  hinted  in  his  former  letter,  which 
explained  the  course  of  Lincoln  in  the  contest.  Incidentally, 
in  replying  to  what  Mr.  Parker  had  said  about  Seward  for  the 
Presidency,  he  shows  that  so  far  the  friends  of  Lincoln  had 
not  thought  of  their  leader  for  that  high  office.  He  also  makes 
clear,  what  had  been  a  puzzle  to  Parker,  what  was  meant  by 
' '  looking  Douglas  in  the  eye, ' '  and  the  efficiency  of  that  meth 
od  of  worming  secrets  out  of  an  opponent.  Exactly  how  far 
this  scheme  went  is  uncertain,  but  Herndon  believed,  and  so 
did  Lincoln,  that  it  extended  to  a  definite  bargain : 

Springfield,  111.,  Sept.  20,  1858. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Dear  Sir: — I  came  home  on  this  day  and  found  yours 
of  the  9th  inst.,  at  my  residence.  I  am  much  obliged  to 
you.  I  was  afraid  in  my  hurry  that  I  did  not  make  plain 
what  I  wanted  to  say.  There  is  one  thing  I  forgot  to  an 
swer  in  your  former  letter,  and  that  was  this:  "  Seward 
will  be  our  next  candidate  for  the  Presidency."  This  was 
your  opinion,  but  let  me  say,  I  doubt  it.  There  is  something 
in  the  wind,  the  full  idea  of  which  I  do  not  gather.  My 
opinion  is  that  to  get  the  Know-Nothings,  North  as  well  as 
South,  our  Republican  platform  will  be  lowered  so  low  that 
Seward  will  not  stand  on  it,  or  if  he  would  he  is  not  the 
man  to  suck  to  himself  all  the  floating  materials  on  the  great 
sea  of  politics.  Look  out  for  cowardly  expediency !  Watch ! 
I  admit  with  you  that  if  Seward  is  the  candidate  and  is 
elected  that  the  iron  wedge  is  then  ready,  and  will  be  driven, 
so  that  as  the  things  split  the  fibers  along  the  lines  of  the 
crack  will  sing  from  the  intensity  of  the  blow.  Friend, 
form  no  loved  theory  just  now:  men  are  cruel,  and  poli 
ticians  are  cowards,  crucifying  God  in  their  base  coward 
ice,  as  they  go  onward. 

I  have  often  said  to  you  that  Greeley  has  done  us  infinite 
harm  in  this  State,  and  now  let  me  explain.  First,  Greeley, 
Seward,  Weed,  and  Douglas,  by  accident  or  otherwise,  met 
in  Chicago  in  the  month  of  October,  1857,  and  soon  after 
ward  it  was  announced  to  me  officially,  but  privately,  that 
Senator  Douglas  was  a  Republican.  I  did  not  see  these 


216 LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 

men  in  Chicago,  though  I  believe  they  were  so  informed. 
This  is  the  substance  of  the  Chicago  contract.  Douglas  said 
to  Greeley,  etc.,  "  You  support  me  for  the  Senate,  and  I 
will  support  Seward  for  the  Presidency,  and  take  my  chance 
for  the  office  in  time."  "Agreed,"  said  the  crowd.  The 
New  Yorkers  went  eastward,  and  Douglas  stayed  at  home, 
insinuating  that  he  was  a  Republican,  etc.  It  somehow 
turned  up  that  Judge  Trumbull  was  told  of  this;  but  he 
rebelled,  his  friend  Lincoln  not  having  been  consulted  in 
the  trade ;  and  so  the  matter  fell  to  the  ground.  This  ac 
counts  for  Douglas's  savage  attacks  against  Lecompton. 
Greeley  found  out  that  he  could  not  rule  us  —  could  not 
turn  us  over  to  Douglas;  and  so  the  bargain  was  null  and 
void;  and  so  this  accounts  for  Douglas's  later  pro-slavery 
tendencies.  So  wags  this  great  political  world.  This,  too, 
accounts  for  Greeley 's  support  of  Douglas,  Haskin,  etc.,  at 
first,  and  now  his  cold  and  cowardly  advocacy  of  Lincoln. 
Here  then  is  the  whole  matter  as  I  can  get  it.  There  is  yet, 
do  not  forget,  an  agreement  to  lower  the  Republican  flag,  so 
that  all  gray-headed,  cowardly,  sniveling,  conservatives, 
North  as  well  as  South,  may  gather  upon  a  degraded  plank. 
I  say ;  look  out ! 

I  hold  in  mv  hand  a  letter  from  a  certain  Senator  of  the 
United  States  —  good  heavens,  would  you  believe  it !  —  ac 
knowledging  something,  substantially,  which  amounts  to  a 
partial  confession  of  the  Douglas-Lincoln  phase  of  things. 
I  cannot  state  all — it's  private.  I  told  you  once,  if  not 
oftener,  that  if  I  could  look  Douglas  in  the  eye  I  could  tell 
what  was  going  on.  Doubtless  you  thought  I  was  foolish. 
I  did  so  and  told  you  all  I  dared,  when  in  Boston.  There 
is  a  peculiar  tie  which  binds  men  together,  who  have  drank 
"  bouts  "  together.  So  with  Douglas  and  my  humble  self. 
I  am  hard  to  fool,  friend,  by  man.  I  can  read  him  about 
as  well  as  he  knows  himself.  Excuse  this  arrogance.  I 
brought  this  news  to  our  town  and  it  astonished  Lincoln 
and  our  boys,  and  thunderstruck  the  Chicago  Tribune,  etc. 
One  of  my  reasons  for  being  in  Boston  may  now  be  ac 
counted  for.  Do  you  understand  ?  Will  finish  in  next. 
Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Wh ether  or  not  the  agreement  here  referred  to  took  the 
shape  of  an  actual  bargain,  this  letter  illumines  the  whole 
campaign,  so  far  as  Lincoln,  Trumbull,  and  the  Illinois  Re 
publicans  were  concerned,  and  helps  us  to  understand  it  as 


217 


never  before.  Be  it  noted  that  the  date  of  this  meeting  in 
Chicago,  October,  1857,  was  two  months  before  the  revolt  of 
Douglas  against  the  Lecompton  fraud,  and,  as  Herndon,  Lin 
coln,  and  Koerner  believed,  inspired  that  revolt.  This  ex 
plains,  among  many  other  things,  the  dickerings  of  Douglas 
for  Republican  support,  his  sending  documents  to  Herndon 
and  others.  It  makes  clear  the  action  of  the  Republican  State 
convention  in  giving  Lincoln  a  direct,  specific,  and  unqualified 
nomination,  and  gives  the  key  to  his  speech  of  acceptance. 
It  explains  the  apathy  of  Greeley,  his  "mean  speech,"  to 
which  Mr.  Parker  referred,  his  lack  of  enthusiasm  for  Lincoln, 
and  his  pleas  to  Herndon  for  Harris.  It  accounts  for  the 
prophecy  of  Douglas  in  his  Chicago  speech,  that  the  Repub 
licans  would  come  over  to  his  side,  and  his  anger  and  bitter 
denunciation  when  they  refused  to  come;  his  contemptuous 
belittlement  of  Lincoln  and  his  friends,  his  charge  of  a  cor 
rupt  bargain  between  Lincoln  and  Trumbull,  his  effort  to 
brand  them  as  Abolitionists,  his  later  pro-slavery  tendencies  — 
and,  indeed,  his  devious  movements  during  the  whole  cam 
paign.  It  is  a  most  illuminating  and  valuable  letter,  and  so 
Mr.  Parker  regarded  it. 

Boston,  Mass.,  Sept.  23,  1858. 
Hon.  Mr.  Herndon. 

My  Dear  Sir :  —  Your  last  letter,  just  come  to  hand,  is 
quite  important.  I  shall  keep  it  confidential,  but  consider 
the  intelligence,  and  "govern  myself  accordingly."  That 
"accidental"  meeting  in  Chicago  is  quite  remarkable,  and 
explains  many  things  which  seemed  queer  before.  Last 
spring  you  told  me  much  which  was  new,  and  foretold  what 
has  since  happened.  I  did  not  understand  till  now,  after 
reading  your  last  letter,  how  you  could  tell  what  Douglas 
was  after  by  looking  in  his  eye;  now  it  is  clear  enough. 
There  is  a  freemasonry  in  drinking.  I  long  since  lost  all 
confidence  in  Greeley,  both  as  a  representative  of  a  moral 
principle,  and  as  the  adviser  of  expedient  measures.  His 
course  in  regard  to  Douglas  last  winter  was  inexplicable 
until  now. 

We  must  not  lower  the  Republican  platform.  Let  the 
Know-Nothings  go  to  their  own  place;  we  must  adhere  to 
the  principle  of  Right !  I  go  for  Seward  as  the  ablest  and 


218 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

best  representative  of  the  Democratic  idea,  that  could  now 
get  the  nomination.  My  next  choice  would  be  Chase.  I 
put  Seward  first,  because  oldest  and  longest  in  the  field  — 
perhaps,  also,  the  abler.  But  if  Douglas  is  defeated,  if 
Trumbull  is  re-elected  in  1860,  I  think  he  would  be  quite 
as  likely  to  get  the  nomination. 

Massachusetts  is  likely  to  send  a  stronger  anti-slavery 
delegation  to  Congress  than  ever  before.  Some  of  the 
Know-Nothings  will  be  discharged  (others  ought  to  be). 
C.  F.  Adams,  J.  B.  Alley,  T.  D.  Eliot,  and  George  Boutwell, 
are  likely  to  be  members  of  the  next  House  of  Representa 
tives.  Governor  Banks  would,  no  doubt,  lower  the  Repub 
lican  platform,  if  that  operation  would  help  him  up.  But 
Massachusetts  will  oppose  any  such  act,  and  so  will  the  peo 
ple  of  the  North.  If  we  put  up  a  spoony  we  shall  lose  the 
battle,  lose  honor,  and  be  demoralized.  Edward  Everett 
is  beating  every  New  England  bush  for  votes  to  elect  him ! 
He  may  beat  till  the  cows  come  home,  and  get  little  for 
his  labor. 

What  you  write  about,  the  letter  from  the  Eastern  Sen 
ator,  chagrins  me  a  good  deal.  But  I  am  sure  of  this:  if 
the  attempt  is  made  by  the  Republican  leaders  to  lower  the 
platform,  then  they  are  beaten  in  1860,  and  are  ruined  as 
completely  as  I  think  Douglas  now  is.  Greeley  says  he 
would  admit  new  Slave  States.  I  despise  such  miserable 
cowardice,  all  the  more  in  such  a  man. 

Truly  yours,  THEODORE  PARKER. 

As  yet  the  name  of  Lincoln  does  not  figure  among  Presi 
dential  possibilities  with  Mr.  Parker,  though  Trumbull 's  does ; 
nor  does  Herndon  mention  it.  Writing  after  the  fact  in  later 
years,  Mr.  Herndon  and  others  intimate  that  they  foresaw 
Lincoln  for  President  and  worked  to  that  end,  but  these  let 
ters  tell  another  story ;  though,  as  has  been  said,  Herndon  was 
not  surprised  when  his  partner  was  mentioned  for  supreme 
leadership.  In  replying  to  Mr.  Parker,  he  flays  Greeley  with 
out  mercy,  giving  us  at  the  same  time  a  glimpse  of  the  influ 
ence  of  the  Tribune  and  its  opportunity  to  damage  Lincoln : 

Springfield,  111.,  Sept.  25,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  In  my  last  letter  of  the  20th  inst.,  I  was 
detailing,  or  trying  to  do  so,  how  Greeley  hurt  us  in  Illi- 


219 


nois.  You  know  what  I  said.  Well,  secondly,  we  were 
like  innocent  fools  waiting  out  here  to  hear  Greeley  open  in 
his  great  Tribune :  we  expected  that  he  would  open  the  ball, 
but  no  signal  boom  came,  and  we  grew  restively  cold,  and 
our  party  slumbered  as  with  a  chill  —  a  bivouac  of  death 
upon  an  iceberg,  until  we  waked  and  shook  off  the  frost  and 
gathered  up  our  mantles,  staffs,  and  flags ;  and  now,  without 
Greeley,  and  in  spite  of  Greeley,  we  are  daily  conquering  a 
victory  by  our  own  energy  and  power,  and  if  you  will,  elo 
quence.  Greeley 's  treachery  or  indifference  came  near 
killing  us  —  defeating  us  in  Illinois.  So  much  for  the 
treacherous  or  indifferent  conduct  of  a  great  leader,  and 
supposed  friend.  It  all  now  seems  strange  and  mysterious ; 
but  the  facts  are  before  us,  and  from  which  there  is  no 
escape.  Greeley  was  daily  playing  into  the  hands  of  the 
pro-slavery  camp.  Had  Douglas  been  elected  —  had  we  not 
organized  the  Republican  forces  in  Illinois  this  year,  we 
should  have  been  disorganized  in  1860,  and  thrown  into  the 
great  traitor 's  arms  —  Douglas 's  arms ;  and  he  would  have 
sold  us  to  the  Charleston  convention  in  1860 ;  or  if  he  could 
not  we  would  have  been  powerless  because  disorganized. 
The  whole  people  of  the  United  States  may  thank  us  in  Illi 
nois  for  our  instincts.  This  will  appear  in  due  time ;  and 
your  Yankee  traders  will  be  ashamed  of  themselves.  I 
mean  no  disrespect  to  you.  You  are  true. 

Again:  you  perceive  that  Greeley  is  already  lowering 
the  Republican  flag ;  we  are  not  free  from  his  influence  yet. 
When  Greeley  made  that  mean  and  miserable  speech  of 
which  you  speak,  it  came  out  to  Illinois,  and  we  had  to  fol 
low  suit  —  were  compelled  to  follow  him.  Why,  the  pro- 
slavery  dogs  would  say  —  did  say  —  that  we  Republicans 
were  more  fanatical,  more  abolition,  than  Greeley ;  and  thus 
you  see  the  downward  tendencies  of  things,  and  now  you 
have  the  cause  of  Lincoln's  backdown,  and  Greeley  is  the 
author,  the  cause  of  the  downward  slide.  That  speech  of 
Greeley 's  and  his  cowardly  editorials  will  reach  throughout 
the  whole  North,  and  East,  and  Northwest.  Mark  it.  This 
is  a  great  wide  treachery,  but  it  is  done  and  it  cannot  be 
helped.  I  wrote  an  article  for  Greeley 's  paper,  notifying 
the  world  what  was  coming,  but  he  refused  to  publish  it. 
So  I  did  to  one  of  your  Boston  papers,  and  it  was  there  re 
fused,  and  so  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  this  treachery 
was  firmly  fixed,  wide-spread,  and  universal ;  and  so  I  quit 
writing  except  in  Illinois.  Here  then  is  the  cause  of  our 


220 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

wrongs,  and  Greeley  and  others  are  the  authors,  in  my 
opinion.  I  agree  with  you  that  Greeley 's  conduct  is  most 
base,  foul  and  damnable.  "What  can  we  do?  That  is  the 
question.  Anything  which  you  may  suggest  to  me  I  will 
try  to  profit  by.  What  shall  be  done  ?  How  shall  we  act  ? 
That  is  the  question. 

When  you  come  fully  to  understand  our  position  —  Lin 
coln 's  position  —  and  remember  Greeley 's  whole  conduct, 
speech  and  editorials,  and  remember  the  Tribune's  influ 
ence,  its  wide-spread  and  almost  universal  circulation,  you 
will  look  over  our  heads  and  somewhat  scorn  the  real  trai 
tor.  I  hope  you  now  understand  our  condition,  feelings, 
position,  etc.  We  are  gaining  every  day  in  Illinois.  All 
looks  bright.  Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Others  have  described  the  scenes  of  the  great  debates,  but 
no  one  has  told  of  the  little  meetings  at  cross-road  school- 
houses,  where  ''the  big  bugs"  did  not  go,  as  Mr.  Herndon 
does  in  his  next  letter.  Those  who  have  had  a  part  in  the 
conduct  of  such  a  campaign  know  that  such  places,  far  off 
the  highways  of  the  world,  are  hardly  less  important,  in  a 
close  contest,  than  the  larger  centers.  Nor  has  any  one  ever 
described  the  seething,  tumbling,  boiling  excitement  of  that 
autumn  —  no  one  else  could  describe  it  —  as  Mr.  Herndon  has 
done.  Hear  him: 

Springfield,  111.,  October  3,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  arrived  home  this  minute  off  a  political 
"tramp,"  and  find  yours  of  the  22d  ult.  I  am  happy  to 
give  you  new  items  or  old  ones,  if  they  will  only  give  you 
proofs  of  our  instincts.  What  I  state  to  you,  you  may 
' '  swear  by, ' '  for  I  only  state  what  I  k now  to  be  true ;  and 
what  I  have  hitherto  stated,  I  know  as  well  as  that  you  are 
born.  I  know  what  I  am  talking  and  to  whom,  and  so  keep 
within  bounds. 

I  have  lately  been  in  and  through  Sangamon,  Logan, 
Menard,  Christian,  Macoupin,  and  Macon  counties  —  an  area 
as  large  as  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  all  things  are 
afire  — •  look  right  and  feel  strong  and  vital.  Peter,  the  her 
mit,  is  abroad,  shaking  our  State.  I  am  of  your  opinion 
that  we  have  Senator  Douglas  "on  the  hip,"  and  if  we  are 
not  fooled  he  is  "  a  dead  cock  in  the  pit. ' '  Here  is  one  of 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES  221 

the  best  signs  that  I  have  felt  yet :  namely,  the  honest  coun 
trymen  are,  as  we  say  here,  ' '  dumfounded, ' ' —  they  do  not 
know  what  to  do  about  Douglas,  his  opinions,  his  veracity, 
his  whole  being,  and  throughout  all  its  phases.  They  say 
nothing  —  keep  still,  for  the  Democracy  is  a  kind  of  political 
popery,  hunting  out  heresy  and  burning  the  heretic.  I  pre 
dict  that  the  Democracy  will  be  badly  fooled  in  their  men, 
their  numbers,  and  their  turn-out.  The  farmers  keep 
' '  shy : ' '  they  do  not  want  to  be  hunted  up  and  damned,  and 
so  they  simply  say  they  are  Democratic.  I  know,  however, 
they  are  not,  for  I  am  all  the  time  at  the  school-houses  and 
village  churches  where  good  can  be  done  and  where  the 
"big  bugs"  do  not  go.  There  are  no  great  crowds  at  these 
cross-road  places,  yet  they  are  really  the  places  where  good 
can  be  done.  Those  men  who  will  go  twenty  miles  through 
heat  and  dust  to  hear  speeches  are  Democratic  or  Repub 
lican  ;  but  those  who  will  not  go  twenty  rods  to  hear  speech 
es  are  neither  one  way  nor  the  other ;  but  if  you  go  to  them, 
and  erect  a  ' '  stump, ' '  or  goods-box  right  at  their  door,  then 
you  get  them  to  hear,  and  convert  many.  This  is  my  expe 
rience.  I  think  it  is  the  experience  of  others. 

Our  people,  the  Republicans,  old-line  Whigs,  and  Fill- 
more  men,  are  united  closely,  and  are  wise  and  wide-awake, 
doing  man  and  God  good  service.  This  class  of  men,  Re 
publicans  in  all  except  name,  is  rapidly  increasing,  develop 
ing  into  zealous,  fiery,  logical  Republicans.  This  is  so 
north  and  south,  east  and  west,  through  the  whole  of  the 
State.  Our  general  ticket  will  be  elected  by  thirty  or  forty 
thousand.  The  Buchanan  men  —  party  —  are  rapidly  in 
creasing.  I  love  to  see  this,  if  I  could  only  throw  out  of 
view  the  motive  that  actuates  them  —  office.  They  are  run 
ning  candidates  in  every  Congressional  district  —  in  every 
State  Senatorial  district,  and  in  every  place  where  any  body 
is  a  candidate  for  anything :  they  thus  divide  and  split 
"wide  open"  the  despotism  that  is  threatening  to  grind  us 
to  powder. 

The  Douglas  party,  on  the  other  hand,  are  daily  de 
creasing,  caving  in,  and  giving  up  the  ghost.  I  call  this 
faction  led  on  by  Douglas,  a  mob ;  it  is  composed  mostly  of 
Irish  —  whiskey  settlers  —  the  ignorant  and  debased  of  the 
whole  world.  The  party  is  sinking  —  bound  to  sink  and  go 
under,  and  thank  the  people  for  it;  thank  God  for  it.  I 
did  Lincoln  and  Greeley  a  little  wrong,  probably,  by  the 


222 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

generality  of  my  expressions  —  I  say  Lincoln 's  apparent 
"backdown,"  and  Greeley 's  accidental  advocacy  of  the  pro- 
slavery  side.  Your  friend,  "W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Again  Herndon  turns  upon  Greeley;  again  he  recurs  to  the 
letter  from  the  United  States  Senator  —  Henry  Wilson,  we  may 
guess — which,  from  his  account  of  it,  must  have  let  light  clear 
through  the  bargain  between  Greeley  and  Douglas,  and  the 
plot  to  lower  the  party  ideal.  And  once  again  he  refers  to 
the  matter  of  Presidential  possibilities  without  any  intimation 
as  to  Lincoln.  The  letter  tingles  with  enthusiasm,  indignation, 
and  hope : 

Springfield,  111.,  October  4,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir: — In  my  hurry,  whilst  writing  my  last  letter, 
I  failed  to  meet,  by  answer,  the  whole  of  your  letter.  1st, 
I  wrote  to  you  about  a  certain  United  States  Senator,  and 
you  say  that  hint,  that  man  chagrins  you.  I  am  sorry  for 
this,  but  I  cannot  help  it.  However,  I  promise  you  that  ere 
long  you  shall  have  the  man's  name,  if  it  is  not  too  great  a 
breach  of  confidence.  I  will  think  about  it,  ask  my  friends 
what  to  do.  I  state  nothing  but  facts  that  I  know. 

Secondly,  you  say  you  are,  1st,  for  Seward;  2nd,  for 
Chase,  and  3rd,  for  Senator  Trumbull,  if,  etc. ;  and  in  an 
swer  to  this,  I  say  "we  of  the  West  have  no  choice  —  we  do 
not  care  who  it  is,  so  that  he  is  a  good  Republican,  one 
whose  Republicanism  is  bottomed  and  buttressed  on  ideas  — 
on  the  great  underlying  principles  of  justice,  right,  and  the 
inalienable  liberties  of  man :  we  do  not  want  any  Republican 
who  is  a  Republican  from  simple  policy,  working  upward 
through  ambition. ' '  This  is  our  speech  to  you  —  to  all  the 
world,  East  as  well  as  West,  North  as  well  as  South;  and 
he  who  expects  to  get  our  votes  must  platform  himself  upon 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  Justice,  and  the  inalien 
able  rights  and  duties  of  man,  guided  and  governed  by  the 
spirit  of  '76.  If  he  do  not  stand  here  at  least  in  feeling, 
he  need  not  look  westward,  unless  the  East  and  middle 
Union  tie  our  hands,  and  stop  the  beating  of  our  hearts.  We 
intend  to  climb  as  high  as  we  can  along  the  lines  of  absolute 
justice.  This  is  our  feeling  now.  What  it  may  be  in  1860 
I  cannot  tell,  but  only  hope. 

Greeley  is  acting  a  great  dog,  is  he  not?  Just  look  at 
the  power  of  his  great  paper,  with  its  world- wide  circula- 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES 223 

tion,  and  does  he  state  who  he  is  for,  what  he  wants,  what 
Illinois  is  doing,  what  freedom  is  struggling  for,  and  how, 
with  intensity,  etc.?  Nothing  of  the  kind.  He  does  not 
seem  to  know  there  is  such  a  man  as  Lincoln,  such  a  strug 
gle  as  1858-9,  and  such  a  State  as  Illinois.  Does  he  keep 
his  own  people  "posted?"  Who  would  know  by  Greeley 's 
paper  that  a  great  race  for  weal  or  woe  was  being  fought 
all  over  the  wide  prairies  of  Illinois?  Who  would?  It  is 
strange  indeed! 

We  are  gaining  in  numbers,  strength,  power,  and  en 
thusiasm,  every  hour,  day  and  week.  Douglas  is  losing  just 
in  the  same  proportion,  ratio  or  what  not.  I  saw  Mr.  Rich 
ard  Yates,  a'  former  Congressman  from  this  district,  a  day 
or  so  ago,  and  he  says  that  Douglas  looks  gloomy,  mournful, 
in  despair  —  Yates  having  ridden  with  Douglas  in  the  cars 
from  Danville  to  the  center  of  the  State ;  and  I  state  to  you 
the  same  thing,  and  in  addition  thereto  I  say  Douglas  is 
bloated  as  I  ever  saw  him;  he  drinks  very  hard  indeed; 
his  look  is  awful  to  me,  when  I  compare  him  as  he  now 
looks  with  what  he  was  in  February,  1858.  What  you  can 
not  understand  or  read  herein,  guess  at. 

Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Herndon  was  not  the  man  to  write  in  this  manner  about 
Greeley  to  another  and  neglect  to  say  the  same  thing  to 
Greeley  himself.  Evidently  he  had  been  giving  the  editor  of 
the  New  York  Tribune  a  piece  of  his  mind  for  his  indifference 
to  Lincoln  and  the  Illinois  contest.  Not  otherwise  can  we  ex 
plain  the  following  letter  in  which,  by  implication  at  least, 
all  that  Herndon  had  heard  and  charged  against  Greeley  was 
strikingly  confirmed: 

New  York,  N.  Y.,  October  6,  1858. 
W.  H.  Herndon,  Esq. 

My  Dear  Sir :  —  It  seems  to  me  that  my  name  ought  not 
to  be  used  to  distract  and  disorganize  the  Republicans  of 
your  State.  My  personal  conviction  is  that  Col.  Harris  and 
Mr.  Morris  are  two  as  clear-seeing,  reliable,  conscientious 
men  on  the  slavery  question  as  need  be  sent  to  Congress, 
and  that  it  is  a  public  misfortune  that  they  are  not  recog 
nized  and  supported  as  such.  I  do  not  wish  to  deny  you  to 
qualify  this  belief.  The  case  is  different  with  regard  to 
Senator  Douglas,  who,  in  his  present  position  I  could  not, 


224 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

of  course,  support,  but  he  need  not  have  been  in  this  posi 
tion  had  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  been  as  wise  and  far- 
seeing  as  they  are  earnest  and  true.  I  shall  not  disguise 
my  regret  that  the  Republicans  of  your  and  the  Quincy 
district  did  not  see  fit  to  support  Messrs.  Morris  and  Harris. 
I  think  they  might  have  done  so  without  a  sacrifice  either  of 
principle  or  policy ;  but,  seeing  that  things  are  as  they  are, 
I  would  not  wish  to  be  quoted  as  authority  for  making 
trouble  and  division  among  our  friends. 

Yours,  HORACE  GREELEY. 

Ill 

Such  a  campaign  was  enough  to  tire  a  man  of  iron,  and 
even  Douglas,  famed  for  his  endurance,  was  beginning  to 
fag.  Though  he  made  much  the  same  speech  everywhere,  as 
Lincoln  reminded  him,  to  repeat  which  required  no  great  in 
tellectual  exertion,  yet  it  was  no  holiday  to  travel  constantly, 
even  in  a  private  car,  and  speak  almost  every  day  for  three 
months.  No  doubt,  an  excessive  conviviality,  to  which  he  was 
tempted,  added  to  his  nervous  irritability,  noted  by  so  many 
observers;  and  a  turn  of  sentiment  had  made  the  outcome  of 
the  contest  uncertain.  Then,  too,  the  campaign  was  draining 
not  only  his  strength  but  his  purse,  forcing  him  to  spend  what 
was  left  from  the  sale  of  his  real  estate  in  Chicago,  and  to 
mortgage  his  other  holdings,  leaving  his  estate  encumbered  for 
more  than  $90,000.1  Naturally  he  was  not  very  amiable  under 
these  circumstances. 

Added  to  all  this  was  the  bitter,  underhanded,  unscrupulous 
fight  made  upon  him  by  the  Buchanan  faction  of  his  own 
party,  the  full  force  of  which  he  was  made  to  feel  during 
the  closing  weeks  of  the  campaign.  Even  in  the  joint  debates, 
especially  at  Quincy  and  at  Alton,  he  paid  his  respects  to  ' '  the 
contemptible  crew"  who  were  trying  to  break  up  the  party 
and  defeat  him.  Of  course  he  charged  that  his  opponent  was 
in  collusion  with  the  Lecomptonites,  seeking  to  accomplish  his 
overthrow  and  ruin.  But  Lincoln,  while  he  denied  any  such 
intrigue,  did  not  disguise  his  satisfaction  that  the  Democrats 

i  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  Johnson,  pp.  382-3  (1908). 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES 225 

were  fighting  among  themselves,  and  smiled  when  he  said, 
"Go  it,  husband!  Go  it,  bear!"  Douglas  had  a  right  to  com 
plain  of  the  methods  of  his  enemies  in  his  own  camp.  Senator 
Slidell  of  Louisiana  was  in  Illinois,  spending  money,  and 
secretly  circulating  canards  to  the  effect  that  Douglas  owned 
slaves  and  mistreated  them  in  a  disgraceful  and  inhuman 
fashion.  This  tale  was  denied  by  Slidell,  but  not  until  after 
the  election  when  the  lie  had  done  its  worst. 

When  the  rivals  met  at  Galesburg,  on  October  7th,  each  was 
disposed  to  stick  to  his  respective  text,  leaving  personalities 
out  of  account.  But  Lincoln  could  not  forget  that  Douglas 
had  promised  to  investigate  those  spurious  resolutions  quoted 
at  Ottawa  and  retracted  at  Freeport.  Since  then  the  Senator 
had  been  in  Springfield,  and  Lincoln  thought  it  was  time  for 
him  to  make  a  report  of  his  research.  But,  as  the  fraud  had 
served  to  catch  votes,  he  suspected  that  his  opponent  was  like 
the  fisherman's  wife,  who,  when  her  drowned  husband  was 
brought  home  with  his  body  full  of  eels,  said,  "Take  the  eels 
out  of  him  and  set  him  again."  He  denied  that  he  was  ad 
vocating  social  equality  among  whites  and  blacks,  but  he  knew 
that  it  was  of  no  avail,  for,  as  he  had  said  before,  he  had  "no 
way  of  making  an  argument  up  into  the  consistency  of  a  corn 
cob  and  stopping  his  mouth  with  it."  Knox  County  was 
Lincoln  ground,  and  this  fact  not  only  put  him  in  good  mood, 
but  drew  from  him  some  of  the  rarest  gems  of  eloquence  heard 
during  the  debates.  To  the  charge  that  the  Republican  party 
was  sectional  he  made  a  most  impressive  and  prophetic  reply, 
and  then  passed  to  the  fundamental  issue  of  the  campaign. 
He  reminded  Senator  Douglas  that  he  himself  was  fast  becom 
ing  sectional,  and  that  "his  speeches  would  not  go  as  current 
now  south  of  the  Ohio  River  "  as  they  had  formerly  gone 
there  —  a  fact  which  the  Senator  discovered  to  his  grief  when, 
after  the  election,  he  journeyed  southward.1 

If  he  has  not  thought  of  this,  I  commend  to  his  considera 
tion  the  evidence  in  his  own  declaration,  on  this  day,  of  his 
becoming  sectional  too.  I  see  it  rapidly  approaching. 


Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  Johnson,  pp.  393-4   (1909). 


226 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  this  ephemeral  contest  be 
tween  Judge  Douglas  and  myself,  I  see  the  day  rapidly  ap 
proaching  when  his  pill  of  sectionalism,  which  he  has  been 
thrusting  down  the  throats  of  Republicans  for  years  past, 
will  be  crowded  down  his  own  throat.  .  .  .  Every  thing 
that  emanates  from  him  or  his  coadjutors  in  their  course  of 
policy,  carefully  excludes  the  thought  that  there  is  any 
thing  wrong  in  slavery.  ...  If  you  will  take  the  Judge's 
speeches,  and  select  the  short  and  pointed  sentences  ex 
pressed  by  him  —  as  his  declaration  that  he  "  don't  care 
whether  slavery  is  voted  up  or  down" — you  will  see  at  once 
that  this  is  perfectly  logical,  if  you  do  not  admit  that 
slavery  is  wrong.  .  .  .  He  insists  that,  upon  the  score  of 
equality,  the  owners  of  slaves  and  owners  of  property  —  of 
horses  and  every  other  sort  of  property  —  should  be  alike 
and  hold  them  alike  in  a  new  Territory.  That  is  perfectly 
logical,  if  the  two  species  of  property  are  alike  and  are 
equally  founded  in  right.  But  if  you  admit  that  one  of 
them  is  wrong,  you  cannot  institute  any  equality  between 
right  and  wrong.  And  from  this  difference  of  senti 
ment  .  .  .  arises  the  real  difference  between  Judge 
Douglas  and  his  friends  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Repub 
licans  on  the  other. 

Carl  Schurz,  then  stumping  the  State  for  Lincoln,  heard  the 
debate  at  Quincy,  on  October  13th,  and  his  description  of  the 
scene  leaves  nothing  to  be  added.1  He  found  Lincoln  calm, 
cool,  and  apparently  as  fresh  as  ever,  good-humored,  friendly, 
and  shrewdly  logical,  while  Douglas,  harsh  and  broken  of 
voice,  gave  unmistakable  signs  of  nervous  irritability,  induced 
by  physical  fatigue.  Douglas  referred  angrily  to  the  "gross 
personalities  and  base  insinuations"  of  Lincoln,  whom  he 
persistently  called  an  Abolitionist.  As  to  restraining  the 
spread  of  slavery,  he  said  that  it  was  the  policy  of  his  ad 
versary  to  "hem  them  in  until  starvation  seizes  them,  and  by 
starving  them  to  death,  he  will  put  slavery  in  the  course  of 
ultimate  extinction;"  a  silly  argument,  if  such  it  may  be 
called,  made  with  a  sneer  that  was  half  a  hiss.  Lincoln  again 
pressed  the  sharp  point  that  slavery  was  "a  moral,  a  social, 
and  a  political  wrong, ' '  which  ' '  the  leading  man  —  I  think  I 

i  Eeminiscences,  by  Carl  Schurz,  Vol.  II,  pp.  89-96   (1909). 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES  227 

may  do  my  friend  Judge  Douglas  the  honor  of  calling  him 
such  —  advocating  the  present  Democratic  policy,  never  him 
self  says  is  wrong."  So  forcefully  did  he  emphasize  this  as 
pect  of  the  case  that  Douglas  winced  and  scowled  under  the 
implied  moral  obtuseness.  Lincoln  went  on: 

I  will  add  this,  that  if  there  be  any  man  who  does  not  believe 
that  slavery  is  wrong  .  .  .  that  man  is  misplaced,  and 
ought  to  leave  us.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  if  there  be 
any  man  in  the  Republican  party  who  is  impatient  over  the 
necessity  springing  from  its  actual  presence,  and  is  impa 
tient  of  the  constitutional  guaranties  thrown  around  it,  and 
would  act  in  disregard  of  these,  he  too  is  misplaced,  stand 
ing  with  us.  He  will  find  his  place  somewhere  else ;  for  we 
have  a  due  regard,  so  far  as  we  are  capable  of  understand 
ing  them,  for  all  these  things.  This,  gentlemen,  as  well  as  I 
can  give  it,  is  a  plain  statement  of  our  principles  in  all  their 
enormity. 

One  of  the  chief  assets  of  Douglas  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
campaign  was  the  presence  of  his  beautiful  wife,  whose  grace, 
tact,  and  charm  did  much  to  smooth  out  the  ruffles  made  by 
his  rude  vigor.  She  held  receptions,  largely  attended  by 
ladies,  at  the  various  places  where  he  spoke,  but  there  were  also 
crowds  of  admiring  gentlemen,  and  her  exquisite  diplomacy 
was  a  source  of  worry  to  the  Republicans.  Charles  Bernays, 
editor  of  the  St.  Louis  Anzeiger,  and  a  strong  Republican,  up 
on  being  introduced  to  the  lady  Senator  was  so  captivated 
that  he  actually  turned  Democrat  and  advocated  the  election 
of  Douglas.  Thereafter  the  Anzeiger  was  a  Douglas  organ,1 
and  it  is  no  wonder  that  Lincoln  and  his  friends  were  fearful 
of  a  power  which  logic  could  not  resist. 

From  Quincy  the  leaders  went  by  boat  to  Alton,  where  Lin 
coln  was  joined  by  his  wife  who  had  come  quietly  down  from 
Springfield  to  hear  the  last  of  the  debates.  Gustave  Koerner 
found  him  in  the  sitting  room  of  the  hotel,  in  a  somewhat  de 
spondent  mood.  He  at  once  said,  ' '  Let  us  go  and  see  Mary, ' ' 
whom  Koerner  had  met  years  before  at  a  party  in  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  when  she  was  Mary  Todd.  "Now,  tell  Mary  what 

1  Memoirs  of  Gustave  Koerner,  Vol.  II,  p.  66. 


228 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

you  think  of  our  chances, ' '  continued  Lincoln ;  ' '  she  is  rather 
dispirited."  Koerner  assured  her  that  Lincoln  would  carry 
the  State,  and  he  was  reasonably  sure  of  the  Legislature.  To 
gether  they  talked  of  the  outlook,  regretting,  especially,  the 
stand  taken  by  Frank  Blair,  who  was  on  his  way  from  St. 
Louis  with  a  boat  full  of  Missouri  Free-Soilers  to  cheer  for 
Douglas.  By  this  time  an  enthusiastic  crowd,  who  had  found 
out  where  Lincoln  was,  had  surrounded  the  hotel;  and  their 
talk  was  at  an  end.  They  went  without  parade  or  fuss  to 
the  public  square,  where  the  debate  was  to  be  held.  There 
Koerner  met  Douglas,  whom  he  had  not  seen  since  1856,  and 
was  greatly  shocked  by  his  appearance.  His  face  was  bronzed, 
bloated,  and  haggard,  and  his  voice  was  so  heavy  and  hoarse 
that  he  seemed  at  times  to  be  barking.1 

Despite  his  bad  voice,  Douglas  opened  the  debate  with  one 
of  the  ablest  speeches  he  had  made  during  the  entire  canvass, 
winning  sympathy  for  himself  in  his  fight  against  the  Lecomp- 
ton  fraud;  quoting  Jefferson  Davis  to  confirm  that  he  was  in 
accord  with  the  South;  conjuring  with  the  name  of  Henry 
Clay,  as  a  bid  for  old  Whig  votes ;  and,  happily,  omitting  many 
of  his  stale  misrepresentations  of  his  opponent.  As  a  bait  for 
the  large  German  vote,  he  insisted  that  the  equality  referred 
to  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was  the  equality  of 
white  men,  especially  "men  of  European  birth  and  descent." 
While  prodding  Lincoln  for  his  evasive  answer  as  to  whether 
he  would  admit  a  new  Slave  State,  he  did  not  forget  the  ene 
mies  in  his  own  camp,  which  was  a  house  divided  against  it 
self.  In  closing  he  sought  to  summarize  the  issues,  by  saying 
that  he  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  every  State  should 
be  allowed  to  do  as  it  pleased,  and  that  he  cared  more  for  this 
principle  than  for  all  the  negroes  on  earth.  In  reply  Lincoln 
made  one  of  the  most  incisive  speeches  of  his  life,  which  may 
be  best  illustrated  by  using  a  few  maxim-like  arguments,  as 
he  called  them. 

I  want  to  know  if  Buchanan  has  not  as  much  right  to  be  in 
consistent   as   Douglas   has?     Has  Douglas   the   exclusive 


Memoirs  of  Gustave  Koerner,  Vol.  II,  p.  67. 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES 229 

right,  in  this  country,  of  being  on  all  sides  of  all  questions  ? 

Although  Henry  Clay  could  say  he  wished  every  slave 
in  the  United  States  was  in  the  country  of  his  ancestors,  I 
am  denounced  by  those  pretending  to  respect  Clay  for  ut 
tering  a  wish  that  it  might  some  time,  in  some  peaceful  way, 
come  to  an  end. 

How  many  Democrats  are  there  about  here  who  have 
left  Slave  States  and  come  to  the  Free  State  of  Illinois  to 
get  rid  of  the  institution  of  slavery?  I  reckon  there  are  a 
thousand  to  one.  If  the  policy  you  are  now  advocating  had 
prevailed  when  this  country  was  in  a  Territorial  condition, 
where  would  they  have  gone  to  get  rid  of  it? 

The  fathers  of  the  government  placed  the  institution 
where  the  public  mind  did  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  was  in 
the  course  of  ultimate  extinction.  Let  me  ask  why  they 
made  provision  that  the  source  of  slavery  —  the  African 
slave-trade  —  should  be  cut  off  at  the  end  of  twenty  years  ? 
Why  did  they  make  provision  that  in  all  the  new  territory 
we  owned  at  that  time,  slavery  should  be  forever  inhibited, 
if  they  did  not  look  to  its  being  placed  in  the  course  of 
ultimate  extinction? 

I  understand  the  contemporaneous  history  of  those  times 
to  be  that  covert  language  was  used  with  a  purpose,  and 
that  purpose  was  that  in  our  constitution,  which  it  was 
hoped  and  is  still  hoped  will  endure  forever  —  when  it 
should  be  read  by  intelligent  and  patriotic  men,  after  the 
institution  of  slavery  had  passed  from  among  us  —  there 
should  be  nothing  on  the  fact  of  the  great  charter  of  liberty 
suggesting  that  such  a  thing  as  negro  slavery  ever  existed 
among  us. 

Is  it  not  a  false  statesmanship  that  undertakes  to  build 
up  a  system  of  policy  upon  the  basis  of  caring  nothing  about 
the  very  thing  that  everybody  does  care  the  most  about  — 
a  thing  which  all  experience  shows  we  care  a  great  deal 
about? 

I  defy  any  man  to  make  an  argument  that  will  justify 
unfriendly  legislation  to  deprive  a  slaveholder  of  his  right 
to  hold  his  slaves  in  a  Territory,  that  will  not  equally,  in 
all  its  length,  breadth  and  thickness,  furnish  an  argument 
for  nullifying  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law. 

Judge  Douglas  has  been  the  most  prominent  instrument 
in  changing  the  institution  of  slavery  which  the  fathers  of 
the  government  expected  to  come  to  an  end  ere  this  —  and 
putting  it  upon  Brooks 's  cotton-gin  basis  —  placing  it  where 


230 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

he  openly  confesses  he  has  no  desire  there  shall  ever  be  an 
end  of  it. 

That  is  the  real  issue.  That  is  the  issue  that  will  con 
tinue  in  this  country  when  these  poor  tongues  of  Judge 
Douglas  and  myself  shall  be  silent.  It  is  the  eternal  strug 
gle  between  two  principles  —  right  and  wrong  —  through 
out  the  world. 

I  was  glad  to  express  my  gratitude  at  Quiney,  and  I  re- 
express  it  here  to  Judge  Douglas  —  that  he  looks  to  no  end 
of  the  institution  of  slavery.  That  will  help  the  people  to 
see  where  the  struggle  really  is. 

After  a  spirited  rejoinder  by  Douglas,  the  great  debates, 
matchless  in  our  history  for  the  importance  of  their  subject 
and  the  skill  of  their  conduct,  came  to  a  close.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  impressions  of  the  hour,  the  speeches  of  Lincoln, 
when  read  in  the  calm  light  of  today,  far  excel  those  of  Doug 
las  in  form,  in  texture,  in  temper,  not  less  than  in  spirit  and 
purpose.  What  strikes  one,  indeed,  is  the  high  art  of  the  or 
ator  amidst  the  heat,  hurry,  and  passion  of  such  a  contest. 
Clear  thought  is  expressed  with  singular  lucidity,  each  sen 
tence  having  its  special  errand,  each  word  its  weight,  with 
never  either  too  much  or  too  little.  There  are  glints  of  wit 
and  touches  of  humor,  but  what  is  borne  in  upon  the  reader 
is  the  earnestness,  the  gravity,  and  at  times  the  almost  religi 
ous  solemnity  of  the  man.  He  was  not  merely  an  office-seek 
er,  still  less  a  mere  agitator,  but  a  man  who  thought  justly, 
loved  the  truth,  and  sought  to  serve  his  nation  and  his  race. 
That  Lincoln  won  by  his  appeal  to  reason  in  the  forum  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  his  party  published  the  debates  in 
I860,1  while  the  party  of  Douglas  refused  to  do  so. 

IV 

But  the  campaign  did  not  end  with  the  debates.  In  fact,  the 
joint  discussions  were  only  a  tithe  of  what  the  two  leaders 
did  and  said  during  the  canvass,  both  speaking  almost  every 

i  The  edition,  published  by  Follett,  Foster  &  Co.,  Columbus,  Ohio,  in 
cluded  the  speeches  of  Lincoln  in  Ohio,  in  1859.  The  same  firm  issued 
the  campaign  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  William  Dean  Howells. 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES  231 

day  in  the  intervals  between  the  debates,  and  afterward  — 
Douglas  still  journeying  in  his  special  car,  with  artillery  at 
tachment;  Lincoln  finding  rest  the  best  way  he  could,  some 
times  curled  up  on  miserable  railway  seats,  wrapped  in  his 
shawl.  There  were,  besides,  other  speakers  doing  valiant  ser 
vice  —  Lovejoy,  Palmer,  Oglesby,  Chase  of  Ohio,  Carl  Schurz, 
and  especially  Senator  Trumbull,  who  was  a  "political  debater, 
scarcely,  if  at  all,  inferior  to  either  Lincoln  or  Douglas. ' ' x 
Amid  the  intense  excitement  of  the  closing  days  many  men 
shifted  their  position,  and  one  of  the  sorrows  of  Lincoln  was 
the  loss  of  his  friend,  Judge  T.  Lyle  Dickey,  who  went  over 
to  the  enemy.  Dickey  secured  a  letter  from  John  J.  Critten- 
den,  of  Kentucky,  urging  the  old  line  Whigs  to  vote  for  Doug 
las,  as  a  necessary  rebuke  to  Buchanan.2  This  letter  was  cir 
culated  clandestinely  and  without  warning  in  doubtful  dis 
tricts  just  on  the  eve  of  the  election,  and  before  its  influence 
could  be  counteracted.  Other  forces,  even  more  disastrous, 
were  at  work,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  letters  of  Herndon : 

Springfield,  111.,  October  26,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  really  regret  to  hear  that  you  are  sick  and 
confined  to  your  bed.  I  hope  that  you  are  not  very  ill  — 
so  ill  that  you  cannot  soon  talk  and  ' '  yarn ' '  and  laugh  with 
your  bosom  friends.  Come,  keep  in  good  spirits  and  be 
merry.  If  you  were  in  Illinois  and  could  only  see  how  the 
great  human  family  is  progressing  justicewards,  social- 
wards  and  religiouswards,  you  would  thank  God  and  take 
courage. 

The  Republicans  are  full  of  hope  and  wild  with  enthusi 
asm,  all  educated  and  drilled  to  duty  in  this  great  canvass 
that  is  now  apace  approaching.  Our  forces  are  eager,  well 
drilled  and  compact,  and  are  only  waiting  the  word  "  Go ! " 
Do  not  understand  me  to  say  that  all  is  surely  and  absolute 
ly  safe ;  but  understand  this  —  all  looks  well,  feels  right  in 
our  bones.  If  we  are  defeated  it  will  be  on  this  account: 
there  are  thousands  of  wild,  roving,  robbing,  bloated,  pock- 

1  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Chap,  by  Horace  White. 

2  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  W.  C.  Whitney,  pp.  271-3    (1907).     The  Crit- 
tenden  letter  is  there  published.     Also  Life  of  Crittenden,  by  Coleman, 
Vol.  II,  p.  163. 


232 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON  

marked  Irish,  who  are  thrown  in  on  us  by  the  Douglas  De 
mocracy  for  the  purpose  of  outvoting  us  —  robbing  us  of  our 
"popular  will."  If  we  are  defeated  there  is  only  one  thing 
that  will  do  it,  and  that  is  wrong,  fraud,  bribery,  and  cor 
ruption.  We  know  our  men  in  each  precinct,  town,  county, 
district,  and  section,  and  we  have  the  majority.  Enclosed 
I  send  you  a  slip  cut  from  the  Chicago  Press  and  Tribune 
showing  that  there  is  danger  from  the  causes  aforesaid. 
Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Alas,  as  with  the  campaign,  so  with  Theodore  Parker,  whose 
life  had  been  a  splendid  campaign  in  behalf  of  private  nobil 
ity  and  public  justice,  it  was  the  beginning  of  the  end:  he 
was  smitten  with  "the  great  white  plague."  From  his  bed 
he  watched  the  heroic  struggle  in  Illinois,  which  had  now  be 
come  'as  desperate  as  it  was  heroic.  One  need  not  charge  Sen 
ator  Douglas  with  corruption,  but  it  is  not  a  matter  of  doubt 
that  his  party,  determined  to  rebuke  Buchanan  and  to  defeat 
Lincoln,  resorted  to  fraud.  It  is  true  that  there  had  been  a 
panic  the  year  before,  and  that  many  men  were  out  of  work, 
but  it  was  no  accident  that  thousands  of  idle  Irish  in  Phila 
delphia,  New  York,  St.  Louis,  and  other  cities,  were  moved  by 
a  simultaneous  impulse  to  seek  employment  in  Illinois,  and 
that  they  so  persistently  sought  it  in  the  doubtful  counties  of 
the  State.  They  came  in  train-loads,  boatfuls,  and  in  droves, 
flooding  the  central  counties.  Indignation  rose  to  fever  heat, 
threats  of  violence  and  bloodshed  were  rife,  and  the  press  was 
ablaze  with  protest.  Still,  the  Republicans  were  confident  of 
victory,  but  Herndon,  prompted  by  his  intuition  —  his  ' '  brute 
forecast, "  as  he  called  it  —  felt  that  all  was  not  safe.  Three 
days  before  the  election  he  wrote : 

Springfield,  111.,  October  30,  1858. 
Mr.  Parker. 

Friend :  —  Today  is  Saturday  and  in  a  little  while  Mr. 
Lincoln  opens  on  our  square,  close  to  the  State  House,  on 
the  great,  vital,  and  dominant  issues  of  the  day  and  age. 
We  feel,  as  usual,  full  of  enthusiasm  and  of  hope,  and  there 
is  nothing  which  can  well  defeat  us  but  the  elements,  and 
the  wandering,  roving,  robbing  Irish,  who  have  flooded 
over  the  State.  This  charge  is  no  humbug  cry :  it  is  a  real 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES 233 

and  solid  and  terrible  reality,  looking  us  right  in  the  face, 
with  its  thumb  on  its  nose.  We,  throughout  the  State,  have 
this  question  before  us:  "What  shall  we  do?  Shall  we 
tamely  submit  to  the  Irish,  or  shall  we  rise  and  cut  their 
throats  ? "  If  blood  is  shed  in  Illinois  to  maintain  the  puri 
ty  of  the  ballot-box,  and  the  rights  of  the  popular  will,  do 
not  be  at  all  surprised.  We  are  roused  and  fired  to  fury. 
My  feelings  are  ideas  to  some  extent  and  therefore  cool  — 
I  try  to  persuade  both  parties  to  keep  calm  and  cool,  if  pos 
sible;  but  let  me  say  to  you,  that  there  is  great  and  im 
minent  danger  of  a  general  and  terrible  row,  and  if  it  com 
mences  woe  be  to  the  Irish  —  poor  fellows ! 

You  know  my  position  now,  and  let  me  state  to  you  that 
I  am  amidst  the  knowing  ones,  clubs,  county  committees, 
State  committees,  leaders,  sagacious  men,  etc.,  and  from  all 
places  and  persons  comes  up  this  intelligence,  ' '  All  is  well. ' ' 
I,  myself,  fear  and  am  scolded  because  1  cannot  feel  as  I 
should  —  as  others  do.  My  intuition  —  brute  forecast,  if  you 
will  —  my  bones,  tell  he  that  all  is  not  safe ;  yet  I  hope  for 
the  best.  How  are  you — are  you  up  and  walking  about? 
Quit  reading  and  writing,  if  you  can,  and  go  off  on  a  spree. 
Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

Happily  the  election  passed  off  quietly,  barring  a  few  fist  fights, 
and  with  a  full  vote  in  spite  of  the  downpour  of  rain.  Lincoln 
carried  the  State  but  was  defeated  for  the  Senate.  The  popular 
vote  stood,  Republicans,  125,430 ;  Douglas  Democrats,  121,609 ; 
Buchanan  Democrats,  5,191.  The  total  vote  cast  exceeded  that 
cast  in  1856  by  many  thousands,  especially  the  Democratic 
vote,  which  showed  an  increase  not  accounted  for  by  the  growth 
of  population.1  The  Republican  State  ticket  was  elected  by  a 
good  majority.  One  who  would  know  the  relative  strength  of 
Lincoln  and  Douglas  must  examine  the  vote  cast  for  the  mem 
bers  of  the  lower  house  of  the  Legislature.  Avowed  Douglas 
men  polled  over  174,000,  while  the  Lincoln  men  received  over 
190,000,  and  the  Buchanan  "  crew"  less  than  2,000;  yet  the 
Republicans,  with  so  huge  a  majority,  won  only  thirty-five 
seats,  while  the  Democratic  minority  secured  forty.  Of  the 
fifteen  contested  Senatorial  seats,  the  Democrats  won  eight 
with  a  total  vote  of  44,826,  as  compared  with  the  Republicans 
i  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  Johnson,  pp.  391-2  (1909). 


234  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

who  cast  53,784  votes  and  won  only  seven.  That  is  to  say,  754 
votes  cast  in  "  Egypt  "  offset  1,000  polled  in  "  Canaan,"  as 
the  two  ends  of  the  State  were  named.  Here  was  proof  ab 
solute  that  the  State  was  gerrymandered,  as  Lincoln  had  said, 
in  favor  of  the  Democrats.  Writing  to  Mr.  Parker,  Herndon 
reported  the  causes  of  defeat : 

Springfield,  111.,  Nov.  8,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir : — We  are  beaten  in  Illinois,  as  you  are  aware ; 
but  you  may  want  to  know  the  causes  of  our  defeat.  Firstly, 
then,  I  have  more  than  once  said  our  State  presents  three 
distinct  phases  of  human  development:  the  extreme  north, 
the  middle,  and  the  extreme  south.  The  first  is  intelligence, 
the  second  timidity,  and  the  third  ignorance  on  the  special 
issue,  but  goodness  and  bravery.  If  a  man  spoke  to  suit 
the  north — for  freedom,  justice — this  killed  him  in  the  cen 
ter,  and  in  the  south.  So  in  the  center,  it  killed  him  north 
and  south.  So  in  the  south,  it  surely  killed  him  north. 
Lincoln  tried  to  stand  high  and  elevated,  so  he  fell  deep. 

Secondly,  Greeley  never  gave  us  one  single,  solitary,  man 
ly  lift.  On  the  contrary,  his  silence  was  his  opposition. 
This  our  people  felt.  We  never  got  a  smile  or  a  word  of 
encouragement  outside  of  Illinois  from  any  quarter  during 
all  this  great  canvass.  The  East  was  for  Douglas  by  silence. 
This  silence  was  terrible  to  us.  Seward  was  against  us  too. 
Thirdly,  Crittenden  wrote  letters  to  Illinois  urging  the 
Americans  and  Old  Line  Whigs  to  go  for  Douglas,  and  so 
they  went  "  helter-skelter."  Thousands  of  Whigs  dropped 
us  just  on  the  eve  of  the  election,  through  the  influence  of 
Crittenden. 

Fourthly,  all  the  pro-slavery  men,  north  as  well  as  south, 
went  to  a  man  for  Douglas.  They  threw  into  this  State 
money  and  men,  and  speakers.  These  forces  and  powers 
we  were  wholly  denied  by  our  Northern  and  Eastern 
friends.  This  cowed  us  somewhat,  but  let  it  go.  Do  you 
know  what  Byron  says  about  revenge  ?  He  goes  off  in  this 
wise :  ' '  There  never  was  yet  human  power, ' '  etc.  I  shall 
make  no  hasty  pledges,  notwithstanding.  I  am  bent  on  act 
ing  practically,  so  that  I  can  help  choke  down  slavery, 
and  so  I  shall  say  nothing  —  not  a  word. 

Fifthly,  thousands  of  roving,  robbing,  bloated,  pock 
marked  Catholic  Irish  were  imported  upon  us  from  Phila- 


THE  CLOSING  DEBATES 235 

delphia,  New  York,  St.  Louis,  and  other  cities.1  I  myself 
know  of  such,  by  their  own  confession.  Some  have  been  ar 
rested,  and  are  now  in  jail  awaiting  trial. 

I  want  distinctly  to  say  to  you  that  no  one  of  all  these 
causes  defeated  Lincoln;  but  I  do  want  to  say  that  it  was 
the  combination,  with  the  power  and  influence  of  each,  that 
' '  cleaned  us  out. ' '  Do  you  not  now  see  that  there  is  a  con 
spiracy  afloat  which  threatens  the  disorganization  of  the 
Republican  party?  Do  you  not  see  that  Seward,  Greeley, 
and  Crittenden,  etc.,  are  at  this  moment  in  a  joint  common 
understanding  to  lower  our  platform  ? 

In  conclusion  let  me  say  that  as  Douglas  has  got  all 
classes  to  "  boil  his  pot,"  with  antagonistic  materials  and 
forces,  that  there  is  bound,  by  the  laws  of  nature,  to  be  an 
explosion — 'namely,  somebody  will  be  fooled.  Look  out! 
Greeley  is  a  natural  fool,  I  think,  in  this  matter  —  his  hearty 
Douglas  position.  So  with  Seward,  Crittenden,  with  South 
and  North.  Douglas  cannot  hold  all  these  places  and  men. 
Mark  that!  I  am  busy  at  Court  and  have  no  time  to  cut 
down  or  amplify  —  hope  you  can  understand. 

Your  friend,  W  H.  HERNDON. 

Of  course  Lincoln  was  disappointed,2  but  he  could  still  joke. 
He  felt,  he  said,  ' '  like  the  boy  that  stumped  his  toe  —  it  hurt 
too  bad  to  laugh,  and  he  was  too  big  to  cry."  His  feelings 

1  One  feature  of  the  campaign,  not  mentioned  by  Mr.  Herndon,  was 
the  activity   of   the   Illinois  Central   Eailroad.     Its  managers   and   em 
ployees  were  for  Douglas,  almost  to  a  man.     Indeed,  the  railroad  interest 
of  the  State  was  chiefly  responsible  for  the  importation  of  voters,  be 
cause   it   had  favors   to   ask   of   the  Legislature.     The   Illinois   Central 
could  afford  to  be  industrious,  if  by  »o  doing  it  could  obtain  release 
from  the  payment  into  the  State  treasury  of   7  per  cent  of  its  gross 
earnings.  —  Quincy  Whig,  Nov.  6,  1858 ;   The  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates, 
by  Sparks,  p.  536    (1909). 

2  Two  days  following  the  election,  at  a  meeting  in  Manchester,  Ohio, 
reported  in  the  Sandusky,  Ohio,  Commercial  Register,  Lincoln  was  men 
tioned  for  the  Presidency.     This  occasioned  wide  comment  and  elicited 
tributes  to   Lincoln   in   the   Illinois  press,   but   no   Illinois   paper  seems 
to  have  named  him  for  that  highest  office  until  May  4,  1859,  when  the 
Central  Illinois  Gazette,  of  Champaign,  edited  by  J.  W.  Scroggs,  took 
it  up.     The  article  was  written  by  W.  O.  Stoddard.  —  Life  of  Lincoln, 
by  W.  C.  Whitney,  pp.  262-5  (1892).     Lamon  says  that  he  saw  in  Lin 
coln's  possession,  shortly  before  his   death,   a  letter  written  by  J.   G. 
Elaine   during   the   campaign   of    1858,   in   which   it  was   predicted   that 


236  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

had  been  so  deeply  engaged,  he  had  worked  so  hard,  and  the 
result,  especially  towards  the  last,  had  been  so  uncertain,  that 
defeat  was  trying.  That  he  felt  it  keenly  is  shown  by  his  re 
mark  to  Whitney  the  day  after  the  election:  "  I  can't  help 
it,  and  I  expect  everybody  to  leave  us ;  "  and  in  his  letter  to 
Governor  Crittenden,  in  which  he  said:  "  The  emotions  of 
defeat  in  which  I  felt  more  than  a  merely  selfish  interest  and 
to  which  defeat  the  use  of  your  name  contributed  largely,  are 
fresh  upon  me. ' '  Yet  he  was  glad  that  he  made  the  race,  for 
it  gave  him  a  hearing  "  on  the  great  and  durable  question  of 
the  age  which  I  would  have  had  in  no  other  way ;  and  although 
I  now  sink  out  of  view  and  shall  be  forgotten,  I  believe  I  have 
made  some  marks  which  will  tell  for  the  cause  of  civil  liberty 
long  after  I  am  gone."  But,  instead  of  sinking  out  of  sight, 
he  rose  from  the  dust  of  defeat  a  National  figure  —  no  longer 
merely  a  leader  of  his  party  in  his  State,  but  the  leader  of  a 
great  people. 


Douglas  would  beat  Lincoln  for  the  Senatorship  but  would  bo  beaten  by 
Lincoln  for  the  Presidency  in  1860.  —  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  Norman  Hap- 
good,  pp.  141-142  (1901). 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Lincoln's  Herndon 

Added  to  the  chagrin  of  defeat,  Lincoln  had  to  endure  a  light 
ness  of  purse  that  was  actually  painful.  ' '  The  fight  must  go 
on, ' '  he  wrote  to  Henry  Asbury  a  few  days  after  the  election ; 
' '  the  cause  of  civil  liberty  must  not  be  surrendered  at  the  end 
of  one  or  even  one  hundred  defeats;"  but  while  the  good 
wishes  showered  upon  him  from  all  parts  of  the  North  put 
him  in  good  heart,  they  did  not  relieve  his  finances.  His  law 
practice  had  been  neglected ;  the  canvass  had  cost  him  time  and 
money ;  and  he  had  to  cast  about  him  for  funds.  To  cap  it  all, 
he  was  asked  by  Norman  Judd,  chairman  of  the  State  Com 
mittee,  to  help  make  up  a  deficit  in  the  campaign  purse !  He 
replied : 

I  am  willing  to  pay  according  to  my  ability,  but  I  am  the 
poorest  hand  living  to  get  others  to  pay.  I  have  been  on 
expense  so  long,  without  earning  anything,  that  I  am  ab 
solutely  without  money  now  for  even  household  expenses. 
Still,  if  you  can  put  in  $250  for  me  towards  discharging  the 
debt  of  the  committee,  I  will  allow  it  when  you  and  I  settle 
the  private  matter  between  us.  This,  with  what  I  have  al 
ready  paid,  .  .  .  will  exceed  my  subscription  of  $500.  This, 
too,  is  exclusive  of  my  ordinary  expenses  during  the  cam 
paign,  all  of  which,  being  added  to  my  loss  of  time  and  busi 
ness,  bears  pretty  heavily  upon  one  no  better  off  than  I  am. 
But  as  I  had  the  post  of  honor,  it  is  not  for  me  to  be  over- 
nice.  You  are  feeling  badly;  "and  this,  too,  shall  pass 
away;"  never  fear. 

Many  invitations  came  to  him  to  make  speeches ;  and  in  order 
to  respond  he  prepared  a  lecture  on  Discoveries,  Inventions, 
and  Improvements,  hoping  thereby  to  recoup  his  losses.  He 
began  with  Adam  and  Eve,  and  the  invention  of  the  "fig-leaf 
apron,"  of  which  he  gave  a  humorous  description,  passing 


238 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

thence  to  the  invention  of  letters,  writing,  printing,  of  the  ap 
plication  of  steam  and  electricity ;  all  of  which  he  classed  under 
the  head  of  ' '  inventions  and  discoveries. ' '  He  gave  a  shrewd 
and  satirical  portrait  of  Douglas's  ''Young  America/'  pos 
sessed  by  the  Platonic  ' '  longing  after ' '  territory  —  and  a  ' '  per 
fect  rage  for  the  '  new ' ;  particularly  the  new  earth  mentioned 
in  Revelation,  in  which,  being  no  more  sea,  there  must  be  about 
three  times  as  much  land  as  in  the  present.  He  is  a  great 
friend  of  humanity;  and  his  desire  for  land  is  not  selfish," 
quoth  Lincoln,  "but  merely  an  impulse  to  extend  the  area  of 
freedom" — with  much  more  of  the  same  political  fooling, 
along  with  the  "invention  of  negroes,  or  the  present  mode  of 
using  them."  For  the  rest,  aside  from  its  ripples  of  humor, 
it  was  rather  commonplace,  and  after  delivering  it  once  or 
twice  he  gave  it  up.  When  he  went  to  Clinton  to  lecture  no 
one  turned  out,  and  the  local  paper  remarked:  "That  does 
not  look  much  like  being  President. ' '  In  fact,  he  soon  realized 
that  he  was  not  a  success  outside  the  political  field,  and  that  he 
needed  a  moral  issue  to  bring  out  his  powers.  Somewhat  de 
jectedly  he  returned  to  the  law,  from  which  he  had  tried  more 
than  once  to  escape. 


No  one  could  gainsay  that  Douglas  had  achieved  a  great  per 
sonal  victory,  against  heavy  odds.1  In  the  East,  Republican 
papers  applauded  him  heartily,  not  so  much  because  they 
lacked  sympathy  with  Lincoln,  as  because  they  regarded  his 
triumph  as  a  signal  rebuke  to  Buchanan,  and  because  they 
hoped  that  he  would  do  yet  further  damage  to  the  Democratic 
party.  This  expectation  was  a  source  of  cheer  in  anti-slavery 
circles,  where  the  defeat  of  Lincoln  was  a  real  grief.  So 
Theodore  Parker,  in  his  last  letter  to  Mr.  Herndon,  interprets 
the  scene,  foretelling  what  he  saw  in  the  future : 

i  Many  tributes  have  been  paid  to  Douglas  by  men  of  opposite  polit 
ical  faith;  notably,  by  I.  N.  Arnold,  Life  of  Lincoln,  pp.  149-50  (1884)  ; 
by  J.  G.  Elaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  I,  p.  149  (1884);  by 
Horace  Greeley,  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  pp.  357-59  (1869);  by 
Gustavo  Koerner,  and  others. 


LINCOLN'S  HEBNDON 239 

Boston,  Mass.,  Nov.  13,  1858. 

My  Dear  Sir :  —  I  am  your  debtor  for  three  letters,  very  in 
structive  ones  too.  I  should  not  have  allowed  the  account  to 
run  on  so,  had  I  not  been  sick.  A  surgical  operation  laid 
me  on  my  bed  for  nearly  three  weeks,  and,  of  course,  I  wrote 
only  with  another 's  hand,  and  but  little  even  in  that  wise. 

So  you  "are  beaten;"  the  reasons  you  give  are  philo 
sophical  and  profound,  it  seems  to  me.  I  think  you  have 
hit  the  nail  on  the  head.  But  I  don't  agree  with  you  as  to 
Seward :  what  private  reasons  you  have  for  your  opinion,  I 
cannot  say,  but  his  two  speeches  at  Rochester  and  at  Rome 
don't  look  like  lowering  the  platform.  He  never  spoke  so 
bold  and  brave  before.  He  quite  outruns  his  party,  and  no 
Republican  paper  in  New  England,  I  fear,  has  dared  to  re- 
publish  them.  The  anti-slavery  papers  printed  one,  and 
perhaps  will  copy  the  other. 

You  are  beaten,  but  I  am  not  so  sure  the  Administration 
do  not  think  it  a  worse  defeat  that  you  do.  I  think  they 
hated  and  feared  Douglas  more  than  Lincoln.  Had  Lincoln 
succeeded,  Douglas  would  be  a  ruined  man.  He  would  have 
no  political  position,  and  so  little  political  power ;  he  would 
have  no  original  influence  in  American  politics,  for  he  does 
not  deal  with  principles  which  a  man  may  spread  abroad 
from  the  pulpit  or  by  the  press,  but  only  with  measures  that 
require  political  place  to  carry  out.  He  could  do  the  Ad 
ministration  no  harm.  But  now  in  place  for  six  years  more, 
with  his  personal  power  unimpaired,  and  his  positional 
power  much  enhanced,  he  can  do  the  Democratic  party  a 
world  of  damage. 

Here  is  what  I  conjecture  will  take  place.  There  will  be 
a  reconstruction  of  the  Democratic  platform  on  Douglas's 
"principles"  (else  they  lose  the  nation).  This  involves  the 
(actual  but  not  expressed)  repudiation  of  Buchanan,  and 
the  sacrifice  of  his  cabinet  officers,  etc.  He  will  sink  as  low 
as  Pierce.  In  1860  the  convention  will  nominate  a  man  of 
the  Douglas  ideas.  Will  it  be  Douglas  himself  ?  I  doubt  it,  for 
he  has  so  many  foes  in  the  North  and  the  South,  that  I  think 
they  will  not  risk  him.  But  if  he  has  heart  enough  to  carry 
the  convention,  then  I  think  the  fight  will  be  between  him 
and  Seward  and  that  he  will  be  beaten !  I  look  for  an  anti- 
slavery  administration  in  1861  —  I  hope  with  Seward  at  its 
head.  But  it  requires  a  deal  of  skill  to  organize  a  party,  to 
find  a  harness  which  all  the  North  can  work  in ;  but  we  shall 
triumph,  vide  Hammond 's  speech.  Yours  truly, 

THEODORE  PARKER. 


240 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

So,  no  doubt,  it  would  have  turned  out  in  the  ordinary  run  of 
affairs;  but  in  times  of  crises  the  best  laid  plans  of  prophets 
' '  gang  aft  agley. ' '  Rapid  and  radical  changes  took  place  be 
fore  1860,  and  Parker  himself,  before  he  died,  turned  from 
Seward  to  Lincoln  as  the  true  leader ;  due  in  part,  perhaps,  to 
the  influence  of  Herndon,  but  in  larger  part  to  the  fact  that 
Seward  had  outrun  his  party,  while  Lincoln  by  his  conservative 
radicalism  had  made  himself  the  spokesman  of  all  phases  of  the 
anti-slavery  sentiment  —  the  one  man  upon  whom  the  North 
could  unite.  Nor  did  Mr.  Herndon  fail  to  rebuke  Greeley  for 
his  lukewarmness  toward  Lincoln  and  the  Illinois  contest,  in 
quiring  if  the  philosopher  intended  to  follow  the  logic  of  his 
situation  and  support  Douglas  for  the  Presidency  in  1860. 
Judging  from  the  rather  curt  reply,  it  must  have  been  a  sting 
ing  letter : 

New  York,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  14,  1858. 

Friend  Herndon :  —  I  do  not  think  I  could  write  editorials 
that  would  seem  to  you  lucid  or  satisfactory.  Perhaps  you 
will  not  be  able  to  understand  me  when  I  advise  you  pri 
vately  that:  (1)  Mr.  Douglas  would  be  the  strongest  candi 
date  that  the  Democratic  party  could  present  for  President ; 
but  (2)  they  will  not  present  him.  The  old  leaders  won't  en 
dure  it.  (3)  As  he  is  doomed  to  be  slaughtered  at  Charles 
ton  it  is  good  policy  to  fatten  him  meantime.  He  will  cut 
the  better  at  killing  time. 

The  Republicans  of  Illinois  might  have  had  Douglas  with 
them  in  their  late  struggles,  as  those  of  Pennsylvania  had 
Hickman,  Indiana  had  Davis,  New  Jersey  had  Adrian,  and 
New  York  had  H.  F.  Clark  and  Haskins.  Some  of  these 
may  treat  us  badly ;  but  a  majority  of  them  will  prove  sound 
coin.  But  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  chose  to  have  the 
anti-Lecompton  Democrats  against  rather  than  with  them. 
In  consequence,  the  State  will  cast  a  majority  of  its  votes 
next  December  ('59)  for  a  Democrat  Speaker,  while  Penn 
sylvania  will  throw  21  to  4 ;  New  Jersey  5  to  0 ;  and  New 
York  28  to  4  on  the  right  side.  Your  course  may  prove 
wiser  in  the  long  run ;  but  ours  vindicates  itself  at  the  out 
set.  A  gain  of  25  members  of  Congress  in  three  contiguous 
States  is  our  answer  to  all  gainsayers.  Yours, 

HORACE  GREELEY. 

But  to  Herndon  such  gains,  made  at  the  expense  of  lowering 


LINCOLN'S  HEENDON  241 

the  party  ideal  and  defeating  its  leaders,  were  not  gains  but 
losses.  What  he  may  have  replied  to  Greeley,  if  he  replied  at 
all,  we  know  not ;  but  his  real  answer  to  such  pseudo-practical 
opportunism  may  be  found  in  his  subsequent  letters  to  Mr. 
Parker,  to  whom  he  continued  to  write  until  that  frail  and 
heroic  figure  passed  out  of  hearing.  His  letter  surveys  the 
situation  with  a  remarkable  grasp  of  facts  and  tendencies, 
questioning  the  wisdom  of  Seward  in  announcing  an  "irre 
pressible  conflict,"  justifying  the  attitude  of  the  Illinois  Re 
publicans  in  refusing  to  support  Douglas,  and  giving  an  esti 
mate  of  Senator  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  whose  speech, 
denouncing  the  Lecompton  fraud,  had  created  a  sensation.  He 
wrote : 

Springfield,  111.,  Nov.  23,  1858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  am  ten  thousand  times  obliged  to  you  for 
your  very  kind  letter,  answering  two  or  three  I  wrote  to  you 
concerning  Illinois  politics,  and  our  Republican  defeat,  Lin 
coln,  for  the  time  being,  our  standard  bearer.  I  never  sup 
posed  I  was  writing  a  philosophic  or  profound  letter.  I 
knew  I  was  spinning  out  quickly  and  inartistically  what  I 
saw.  I  owe  you  one,  as  we  say  West,  and  I  will  pay  you 
some  time  in  as  good  and  pure  coin.  Remember  that,  and 
take  it  in  good  humor  when  it  comes. 

You  state  that  you  and  I  disagree  about  Senator  Seward. 
Not  at  all :  it  was  my  rapid  loose  writing  that  misled  you. 
I  suppose,  from  what  you  say,  that  I  put  my  verb  in  the 
present,  when  it  should  have  been  in  the  past.  What  I  in 
tended  to  say  was  this:  There  was  once  a  conspiracy  to 
lower  the  Republican  platform,  and  in  that  conspiracy  were 
Douglas,  Seward,  Wilson,  Greeley,  and  the  whole  North  in 
Congress.  This  I  know.  The  manner  —  one  of  them  — 
was  to  uphold  Douglas  and  throw  away  Illinois;  and  this 
was  done  upon  the  condition  that  Douglas  would  war  hugely 
against  Lecompton.  Let  me  see  if  I  can  convince  you  of  my 
meaning.  This  conspiracy  was  on  tapis,  but  was  to  a  cer 
tain  extent  frustrated  because  Judge  Trumbull  would  not 
agree  to  sacrifice  Lincoln.  The  wild  stampede  in  Illinois 
put  things  in  a  complex  condition,  and  so  left  all  men  to  act 
in  "tact,"  according  to  discretion.  To  keep  good  faith  with 
Douglas,  Greeley,  so  far  as  he  could,  kept  silent,  and  had 
we  not  rebelled  at  this  wholesale  traffic  of  principle,  pru- 


242 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

dence,  and  justice,  it  would  have  been  just  as  I  told  you. 
Illinois  Republicanism  acted  wisely,  and  I  am  one  to  get  it 
so  to  act  —  that  is,  I  helped  to  form  an  opinion  and  act  en 
ergetically  upon  it.  I  will  take  that  much  of  the  dread  re 
sponsibility  and  bide  my  time  for  sound  judgments. 

This  conspiracy  is  not  wholly  abandoned  yet.  I  rather 
guess  that  some  leaders  —  such  as  Crittenden,  etc. —  want 
it  yet  to  take  place.  I  landed  home  from  Washington  and 
the  East,  and  told  our  people  what  I  told  you.  I  have  no 
private  opinion  on  politics  that  I  do  not  tell  you.  The  feel 
ing  still  to  support  Douglas  is  not  yet  wholly  wiped  out. 
This  whole  original  understanding  being  shattered,  and 
driven  into  spray,  whipped  into  mist,  left  Seward  free,  and 
hence  he  burst  out  at  Rochester  and  at  Rome.  By  the  by, 
these  speeches  are  brave,  bold,  manly,  earth-true,  but  is  it, 
was  it,  prudent,  wise,  sagacious  in  Seward  to  utter  them? 
What  say  you?  What  think  you?  The  people  are  still 
tender  footed  as  a  whole.  Some  localities,  as  Boston,  may  be 
rough-iron  shod,  but  behold  Indiana  and  Illinois.  Wisdom 
looks  out  generally,  sweeping  parts  as  well  as  wholes.  Re 
formers,  to  effect  anything  politically,  must  have  more  than 
a  bare  majority.  Hell's  retrogrades  sit  upon  customs,  hab 
its,  disgusts,  and  bid  you  lay  siege.  Reformers  must  get  so 
low,  crawl  along  in  the  mud  till  a  working  majority  sticks. 
Not  so  with  any  despotism  —  enough  has  already  stuck  to  it 
by  habit,  custom,  and  education.  Was  it,  now,  wise  in 
Seward  to  go  out  so  wide  sweeping?  I  doubt  it.  His 
speeches  are  eloquent,  logical,  philosophic,  so  much  so,  as  you 
well  say,  that  no  New  England  paper  dare  publish  them, 
except  those  of  rank  radical  anti-slavery  flags.  I  can  see 
which  way  human  ideas  tend  and  march ;  and  I  know  that 
mankind  will  follow  the  ideal,  but  what  I  see  is  that  all  men 
do  not,  now.  So,  was  it  prudent  ? 

You  say  that  Douglas  will  not  be  the  Democratic  nominee 
in  I860;  that  he  will  not  receive  the  Charleston  convention 
nomination;  and  that  if  he  does  he  will  be  defeated.  I 
think  I  agree  with  you,  yet  I  shiver :  there  is  a  kind  of  vic 
tory  fatality  —  a  manifest  destiny  —  hanging  ' '  round 
loose ' '  about  Douglas,  and  this  idea  makes  me  dread  the  fu 
ture  as  a  child  does  the  dark.  I  received  a  letter  from  Hor 
ace  Greeley,  dated  November  17th,  in  which  he  says : 

"First,  Mr.  Douglas  would  be  the  strongest  candidate 
that  the  Democracy  could  present  for  President,  but,  Sec 
ondly,  they  will  not  present  him.  The  old  leaders  will  not 


LINCOLN'S  HEBNDON 243 

endure  it ;  and  Thirdly,  as  he  is  doomed  to  be  defeated  at 
Charleston,  it  is  a  good  policy  to  flatter  him, ' '  etc. 

So  here,  you,  Greeley,  and  myself  agree  in  the  main.  Let 
me  ask  you  one  question :  If  Greeley  saw  all  this  —  Doug 
las  's  uprise  and  the  consequent  danger  to  Republicanism  — 
beforehand,  why  did  he  not  "jump  in"  and  defeat  the  up 
rising  of  this  monster  in  politics.  Can  he  answer  it  ?  Doug 
las  is  now  upon  the  nation,  and  how  shall  it  shake  him  off  ? 
He  is  a  man  of  no  deep-hearted  feelings  —  no  wide,  uni 
versal,  uprising,  outspreading  ideas  —  no  such  thing  in  that 
little  man 's  brains.  He  sits  down  in  a  mid-corner,  and  says 
to  the  rushing  world,  as  it  sweeps  by,  searching  for  its  grand 
ideal, ' '  Here  and  Now !  Attend  to  the  Here  and  the  Now  — 
no  hereafter,  no  higher  law,  no  God  that  never  slumbers, 
watching  justice."  Well,  it  is  too  bad,  but  it  is  not  my 
philosophy  to  lie  down  and  grunt  or  whine.  I  will  fight  him 
again  and  again. 

Your  refer  to  Hammond's  speech.  I  have  read  it,  and 
now  do  you  remember  what  I  told  you  about  him?  I  said 
he  was  a  good  man  by  nature,  was  doing  violence  to  his  own 
innate  justice  when  he  was  making  his  speech  about  slavery, 
mud  sills,  etc.  You  draw  an  inference  from  his  speech  that 
is  not,  I  think,  warranted.  Your  inference  is  this --a 
change  of  Southern  sentiment.  The  fact,  I  think,  is  here : 
Hammond  was  made  to  think  in  the  Senate,  and  that  led  him 
back  to  old  child  justice ;  it  is  an  individual  change  that  will 
not  amount  to  much.  I  see  the  Southern  papers  are  down 
on  him.  We  will  soon  see  which  way  things  drift. 

Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

For  weeks  after  the  election  the  Eastern  papers  not  only 
lauded  Douglas,  but  upbraided  the  Illinois  Republicans  for  not 
supporting  him.  The  Boston  Traveller,  especially,  was  bitter 
in  its  scolding,  going  so  far  as  to  charge  that  the  Illinois  leaders, 
' '  merely  to  gratify  a  personal  and  political  hatred, ' '  had  acted 
with  a  handful  of  Buchanan  Democrats  in  having  Douglas  men 
removed  from  office,  "thus  becoming  the  tools  of  the  very 
'slave-power'  which  they  are  so  fond  of  denouncing."  They  had 
compelled  their  party  in  the  nation  to  throw  aside  the  certainty 
of  success  in  1860,  and  return  to  the  wilderness  where  they  may 
wander  for  forty  years,  if  not  forever.  ' '  Parties,  like  individ 
uals, "  continued  this  wise  journal  of  the  East,  "have  their  gold- 


244  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

en  moments;  but  if  they  neglect  to  improve  them,  those  mo 
ments  rarely  return. ' '  Indeed,  it  has  not  been  generally  real 
ized  under  what  handicaps  Lincoln  and  his  friends  labored  in 
that  contest.  They  fought  not  only  Douglas  at  home,  where  his 
power  and  popularity  in  his  party  were  next  to  omnipotent, 
but  the  whole  Republican  party  outside  of  the  State,  together 
with  the  American  party  and  the  entire  South.  Turn  which 
soever  way  they  would,  they  met  an  enemy.  Contending,  hand 
to  hand,  with  the  most  powerful,  the  most  unscrupulous,  and 
most  facile  and  audacious  foe  that  free  principles  ever  had  in 
the  North,  whose  violations  of  the  rules  of  political  warfare 
were  without  parallel,  every  effort  of  their  friends  abroad  was 
on  the  side  of  their  enemies  at  home.  They  lost  the  Senate,  but 
they  did  not  lose  the  fight,  even  when  waged  against  such  odds ; 
for,  as  the  Chicago  Press  and  Tribune  said,  the  chief  victory 
was  actually  won : 

We  have  demonstrated  the  power  of  Republicanism  as  an 
element  in  all  future  contests,  and  its  incorruptibility,  at 
least  in  Illinois,  when  tempted  by  prospects  of  immediate 
success.  We  have  dissolved  the  coalition  once  half  formed, 
by  which  our  platform  was  to  be  let  down,  by  which  our 
principles  would  have  lost  their  vitality,  and  by  which  suc 
cess  in  1860  would  have  been  ten-fold  more  disastrous  than 
defeat.  So  far,  well.  And  now  for  the  future:  We  be 
lieve  it  is  the  intention  of  Illinois  Republicans  to  go  right  on 
in  the  course  that  they  have  marked  out  —  to  ask  no  aid  that 
conviction  of  the  justice  and  necessity  of  their  principles 
will  not  bring  —  to  make  no  alliances,  offensive  or  defensive, 
with  any  faction,  party,  or  clique  —  to  ask  no  favor  —  to 
give  no  quarter  —  to  fight  the  great  battle  for  the  ascend 
ency  of  free  principles  as  zealous,  earnest  men  should  —  to 
be  content  with  defeat  as  long  as  it  must  be  endured  —  to 
use  success  wisely  when  we  win  it.  If  we  are  to  have  the 
co-operation  of  the  party  elsewhere,  well ;  if  not,  Illinois  is 
sovereign,  and  her  sons  can  walk  alone  ! 

Such  was  the  ultimatum  from  "the  land  of  full-grown  men," 
nor  could  they  be  begged,  bribed,  or  threatened  to  retract  it ; 
and  by  that  sign  they  conquered.     It  is  not  too  much  to  say  — 
as,  in  fact,  Lincoln  did  say  in  his  letter  to  S.  P.  Chase,  a  few 
months  later  —  that,  had  not  the  Republicans  of  Illinois  made 


LINCOLN'S  HERNDQN 245 

their  stand,  the  party  would  have  gone  to  pieces  utterly.  Yet 
there  are  those  who  marvel  that  Lincoln  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  ticket  in  1860,  as  though  it  were  a  happy  accident  in 
politics.  What  has  hitherto  been  dim  ought  now  to  be  plain, 
for  the  men  who  stood  back  of  Lincoln  were  of  his  spirit,  as  un 
compromising  in  principle  as  they  were  astute  and  cunning  in 
method.  Mr.  Herndon  makes  the  situation  transparent : 

Springfield,  111.,  Nov.  27,  3858. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  was  one  of  those  spontaneous,  instinctive, 
and  it  may  be  far-seeing,  Suckers,  that  made  Illinois  mutin 
ous  against  the  Douglas-Greeley  sale  of  Illinois  and  Repub 
licanism  therein.  Our  course  or  Greeley's  I  want  you  to 
approve.  If  our  course  was  wrong,  say  so ;  if  Greeley's,  say 
so.  Now  look  at  the  facts  and  the  men :  Firstly,  take  lias- 
kins,  and  small  men  of  such  calibre,  who  can  send  no  great 
political  whirlwind  up  or  down.  The  Republicans  of  New 
York  and  New  England  can  afford  to  stoop  and  palaver  with 
them  —  get  them  to  stick,  and  lift  them  up  on  the  broad 
shoulders  of  rigorous  Republicanism,  walking  off  with  them 
to  the  camp  of  real  democracy.  He  and  such  live  no  longer 
—  are  wholly  absorbed.  Here  Greeley  did  right  —  no  dan 
ger  in  this :  it  was  child's  play  —  but,  Secondly,  take  Doug 
las  :  he  is  a  huge  mud-giant,  who,  if  you  but  stoop  to  him, 
fastens  his  clutches  around  your  neck  and  keeps  you  down 
in  the  mud,  carrying  you  off  into  the  sham  democracy.  There 
is  no  absorption  and  uplifting  here  —  far  otherwise :  the 
uplifting  and  absorption  turn  out  to  be  the  reverse  of  foolish 
expectancy. 

In  the  first  place  the  Republicans  can  disorganize,  and  at 
the  call  of  the  drum  and  fife,  and  other  political  screechings, 
they  can  soon  get  together  again ;  but  this  is  not  so  in  Doug 
las 's  case.  Now  what  is  wise  in  New  York  over  Raskins,  is 
not  wise  in  Illinois  over  Douglas  —  far  otherwise.  Then  for 
Greeley  to  set  down  a  law  for  us  was  foolish,  absurd,  in 
short,  idiotic. 

When  I  was  at  Washington  and  in  the  East  I  found  out 
from  Judge  Trumbull  and  others  that  there  was  a  disposi 
tion  to  sell  out  Illinois,  and  to  lower  the  Republican  plat 
form  in  general,  to  suit  Douglas's  low  standard  of  right  and 
wrong.  I  went  to  New  York  and  Greeley  by  innuendoes 
startled  me  —  went  to  your  Boston  and  found  out  about  the 
same  thing.  I  knew  Douglas,  had  known  him  for  years,  so 


246 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

did  our  people  —  all  knew  him  to  the  core.  So  we  met, 
talked  over  the  matter  in  Chicago,  and  the  universal  senti 
ment  was  this :  Can't  trust  Douglas ;  if  we  run  him  it  must 
be  on  distinct  Democratic  Cincinnati  platforms,  under 
propped  by  a  foul  substratum  of  despotism,  and  fully  de 
veloped  pro-slaveryism.  So  every  man  sent  up  his  individ 
ual  ' '  No, ' '  and  along  with  it  all  said  ' '  Never ! ' ' 

What,  then,  shall  be  done  ?  Shall  we  run  Douglas,  and 
become,  if  not  in  intent  a  pro-slavery  party,  in  fact  false, 
sham  Democrats,  every  one  of  us.  If  we  run  him  we  must 
disorganize  and  become  forces  for  slavery  in  1860 ;  for  once 
disorganized  and  following  Douglas  one  year,  we  are 
swamped,  gone  out  of  this  world's  sight  into  slavery  wor 
ship.  So  here  we  are,  and  now  what  shall  be  done  ?  Shall 
we  run  Lincoln,  love  liberty,  and  keep  organized  for  the 
great,  deep,  momentous  turning  battle  of  1860  ?  Individual 
shouts  sent  up  their  everlasting  ' '  Yes, ' '  and  so  the  universal 
went  wedded  to  the  individual  Well,  Lincoln  was  our  man, 
and  Liberty  and  God  our  motto!  We  were  whipped,  as  you 
are  sadly  aware,  doubtless.  What  looms  up  great  and  grand 
in  the  distance  ? 

Come,  go  back  with  me  one  moment.  If  we  went  for 
Douglas  we  had  to  give  up  Republicanism  and  wholly  dis 
organize.  We  are  on  the  ground  —  see  this  everywhere. 
Our  good  neighbors  say  so,  our  heads  say  so.  Can  distant 
Greeley  say,  "liars?"  —  pshaw!  Are  the  Eastern  politi 
cians  all  fools  1  They  seem  to  be  so.  I  am  a  young,  undis 
ciplined,  uneducated,  wild  man,  but  I  can  see  to  the  gizzard 
of  this  question.  We  are  all  disorganized  in  Illinois  and 
shouting  for  Douglas,  and  the  blast  of  the  bugle,  bursting 
on  the  air,  blown  by  Freedom,  calling  to  her  braves,  rolls 
upon  us  in  1860  —  and  where  are  we  ?  Why,  disorganized, 
hooting  for  Douglas,  and  for  slavery.  Pretty  fix,  and  Gree 
ley  says  — ' '  All  right. ' '  My  dog-sagacity,  my  mud  instinct, 
says  —  fool !  Stoop  for  Haskins  and  Davis,  Greeley  may ; 
but  for  Douglas,  let  him  and  the  world  beware !  What  can 
the  North  do  in  1860  with  Indiana,  Illinois,  New  Jersey,  etc., 
disorganized  ?  Why,  get  whipped  out.  Greeley,  horn-eyed, 
says,  "All  right,  just  the  thing,  quite  practical,  easy  to  be 
done."  And  to  which  I  say,  "Easy  if  you  want  to  elect  a 
pro-slavery  Southern  man  for  1860. ' ' 

Come,  go  back  with  me  once  more,  and  now  what  do  you 
see  in  Illinois?  Why,  a  well-drilled,  "Fritz"  organized, 
educated,  liberty-loving,  God-fearing  Republican  party, 


LINCOLN 'S  HERNDON 247 

broad  and  wide-awake,  ready  for  the  fight,  shouting  for  man, 
liberty,  justice,  God  and  their  complex  duties  and  relations, 
now  and  forever.  Greeley,  shaking  his  Fourrier  head  at  us, 
may  be  seen,  crying,  "All  wrong."  Well,  it  may  be  so; 
but  I  cannot  see  it. 

I  say  I  came  home  after  discovering  the  Greeley-Douglas- 
Seward-Crittenden  tendencies,  and  told  our  people  of  them. 
They  had  faith  in  what  I  said,  and  more  in  their  own  souls, 
and  so  we  went  to  war  most  mutinous.  We  are,  for  Senator, 
whipped,  but  not  for  State  officers;  and  so,  thank  God,  we 
are  this  day  a  sober,  staunch,  incorrigible  fact  and  force  in 
Republicanism.  Here  we  are :  feel  our  nerves,  and  muscles, 
and  bones ;  they  are  all  in  place,  a  vital,  healthy,  living  organ 
ism,  ready  to  function  at  God 's  order  — ' '  Up  and  at  them ! ' ' 
Excuse  me.  Could  not  help  it.  Must  spit  it  out. 

Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

On  January  6th,  the  Illinois  Legislature  met  in  joint  session  to 
elect  a  Senator,  and  no  man  ventured,  or  desired,  to  change  his 
vote.  Douglas  received  fifty-four  votes,  Lincoln  forty-six. 
' '  Glory  to  God  and  the  Sucker  Democracy, ' '  Lanphier,  of  the 
State  Register,  telegraphed  to  his  chief.1  And  back  over  the 
wires  from  Washington  came  the  laconic  reply,  ' '  Let  the  voice 
of  the  people  rule."  But,  in  view  of  the  figures  of  the  election 
returns,  the  voice  of  the  people  must  have  seemed  in  this  in 
stance  somewhat  husky.  A  few  days  later  Herndon,  hearing 
that  Mr.  Parker  was  ill,  wrote  to  inquire  the  cause : 

Springfield,  111.,  Jan.  15,  1859. 
Friend  Parker: 

I  am  in  our  Supreme  Court  hearing  discussed  the  differ 
ence  between  ' '  tweedledee  and  tweedledum ' ' —  a  fine  spun 
point  over  an  absurdity  woven  out  by  some  priest  1200  years 
gone  by  now.  Whilst  this  is  going  on  I  am  reading  your 
lecture  on  Mr.  Adams,  a  synopsis  of  it  rather,  and  it  rings 
like  you ;  at  once  finely  analytic,  profoundly  synthetic,  truly 
discriminating  and  philosophic.  It  is  honest,  candid,  and 
places  Mr.  Adams  where  my  instincts  —  not  my  reading  — 
placed  him.  I  see  more  pleasure  in  reading  this  than  the 
lawyers  do  in  their  heated,  foaming  discussion.  I  hate  the 
law :  it  cramps  me ;  it  seems  to  me  priestly  and  barbaric.  I 
am  above  the  suspicion  of  not  knowing  somewhat  of  the  his- 

i  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  Johnson,  p.  392  (1908). 


248 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

tory,  spirit,  and  principles  of  the  law,  and  my  feelings  do 
not  come  of  disappointment.     I  say  I  hate  the  law. 

I  hear  you  are  still  unwell,  and  hardly  able  to  be  out  at 
tending  to  your  business  or  lecturing.  I  hope  it  is  nothing 
serious.  What  is  the  matter,  if  it  is  not  prying  into  a  man 's 
private  matters  too  much?  I  hope  you  will  let  your  four 
lectures  on  Washington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  and  Franklin 
come  oat  soon.  Can  you  not  do  this  without  infringing  too 
much  on  your  calculations  ?  By  the  by,  no  man  has  yet  let 
out  a  philosophic  idea  of  the  causes  of  the  American  Revolu 
tion,  or  the  principles  which  lay  thereunder  —  no,  not  one. 
Can  you  not  do  this  in  some  of  your  lectures?  Again,  I 
never  have  seen  or  read  or  heard  of  a  good  lecture  on  the 
sweep  of  human  liberty  —  say  commencing  at  India  and 
ending  in  America.  Think  of  this.  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

But  alas,  Parker  had  suffered  a  violent  hemorrhage  of  the 
lungs,  and  had  other  things  to  think  of.  After  a  consultation 
of  physicians  he  was  told  that  his  chance  of  recovery  was  but 
one  in  ten,  and  a  trip  to  the  West  Indies  and  thence  to  Europe 
was  decided  on.  He  dropped  a  line  to  Herndon,  "a  poor 
scrawl  with  a  pencil,"  ready  to  die  if  need  be,  laughing  at  the 
odds  of  nine  to  one.  Letters  from  all  over  the  nation,  and  be 
yond  the  seas,  poured  in  upon  him,  so  richly  ladened  with  hu 
man  sympathy  and  personal  tribute  that  his  heart  was  broken 
with  delight.  Mr.  Herndon  wrote  out  of  a  heavy  heart : 

Springfield,  111.,  Jan.  25,  1859. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  this  moment  received  your  very  kind  note, 
and  for  which  I  thank  you.  I  do  most  sincerely,  religiously 
regret  your  illness;  and  had  I  the  power  you  should  not 
suffer  long;  but  should  spring  back  into  your  boyhood's 
best  —  perfect  health.  I  am  not  religious  the  way  the 
world  runs,  but  may  I  say  this:  God  grant  you  a  happy 
journey  and  a  speedy  recovery,  so  that  you  may  come  back 
to  your  native  land  invigorated,  doing  the  people  good  who 
now  curse  you!  May  Heaven's  great  eye  and  loving  heart 
watch  over  you  and  pulse  into  you  some  of  His  vitality ! 
Goodby  till  you  return.  Your  friend,  W.  II.  HERNDON. 

At  Havana  Parker  wrote  a  letter  to  his  church  which  has  been 
printed  with  the  title,  "Theodore  Parker's  Experience  as  a 
Minister" — the  best  life  of  Parker  that  has  so  far  been  writ- 


LINCOLN'S  HERNDON  249 

ten,  though  he  wrote,  as  he  said,  ' '  standing  up  to  his  neck  in 
the  grave. ' '  Herndon  followed  him  on  his  journey  with  solici 
tude  and  many  a  silent  prayer,  reading  every  line  about  him 
and  from  him  in  the  papers,  as  he  traveled  from  Cuba  to  Lon 
don,  then  to  Paris,  amid  troops  of  friends,  and  thence  to  Italy 
to  return  no  more.  From  afar  he  watched  the  changing  scene 
in  his  native  land,  studying,  planning  books,  writing  scores  of 
letters,  while  fighting  death  inch  by  inch.  Towards  the  end 
he  said  —  the  true  word  of  a  wandering  mind — "There  are 
two  Theodore  Parkers  now:  one  is  dying  here  in  Italy;  the 
other  I  have  planted  in  America.  He  will  live  there  and  finish 
my  work. ' ' 1 

II 

Of  the  office  life  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon  much  has  been  writ 
ten,  though  the  interest  has  naturally  centered  about  the  senior 
partner.  Vivid  glimpses  of  the  two  men  in  their  personal  re 
lations  have  been  given  by  those  who  were  law  students  in  the 
office,  among  whom  were  Elmer  Ellsworth,  afterwards  colonel 
of  the  famous  Zouaves,  John  H.  Littlefield,  and  others.  Their 
memories,  like  so  much  that  has  been  written  of  Lincoln,  were 
no  doubt  colored  by  later  events,  but  they  are  none  the  less 
vivid  and  revealing.  At  Ottawa,  during  the  campaign  of 
1858,  Lincoln  met  a  Mr.  Littlefield  who  asked  that  his  brother 
might  come  to  Springfield  and  study  law.  Lincoln  replied : 
"All  right,  send  him  down  and  we  will  take  a  look  at  him." 
Mr.  Littlefield  writes :  2 

When  I  arrived  at  the  law-office,  I  found  what  seemed  to  me 
the  oddest  mortal  I  had  ever  met.  He  was  sitting  down 
when  I  came  in,  and  I  should  have  said  that  he  was  about 
my  height  —  five  feet  eight ;  but  when  he  rose  to  greet  me, 
it  was  upon  a  pair  of  legs  that  lifted  him  to  an  altitude  of 
six  feet  and  four  inches.  "Glad  to  see  you,  young  man," 
he  said,  giving  me  a  cordial  grasp  of  the  hand.  "Your 


i  Theodore  Parker,  by  J.  W.  Chadwick,  p.  371    (1900). 

-  These  reminiscences,  published  in  Every  Where,  edited  by  Will 
Carleton,  February,  1902,  are  supplementary  to  those  furnished  by  Mr. 
Littlefield  for  the  Herndon  and  Weik  biography  (Vol.  I,  pp.  .115-319). 


250 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

brother  says  you  are  a  good  deal  like  him,  only  more  so :  and 
that 's  enough.  Arrange  the  preliminaries  with  '  Billy, '  and 
go  ahead."  Billy  was  Lincoln's  partner  —  William  H. 
Herndon,  an  agreeable,  scholarly  man;  and  I  felt  duly  in 
stalled,  within  a  moment's  time.  It  was  not  long  before  I 
found  myself  sitting  at  the  same  table  with  these  two  ex 
ponents  of  the  law  —  each  engaged  in  study  —  while  six 
pedal  extremities  of  various  sizes  adorned  the  aforesaid 
table.  ' '  We  ought  to  concentrate  enough  magnetism,  in  this 
way,  to  run  a  whole  court  room,"  Herndon  used  to  say. 
Lincoln  was  fifty;  Herndon  was  forty;  and  I  was  twenty- 
five  —  a  gradation  of  years  that  made  one  of  them  seem  to 
me  like  a  brother,  and  the  other  like  a  father:  and  they 
were  certainly  all  these. 

I  found  myself  studying  Lincoln  more  and  more,  as  the 
days  went  on.  "The  most  unique  man  I  ever  knew,"  was 
my  verdict,  over  and  over  again.  He  has  been  called  awk 
ward  and  ungainly,  but  this  was  not  true.  He  was  simply 
odd  and  original,  in  his  own  inimitable  way.  All  the  powers 
of  Nature  never  could  have  made  another  one.  His  clothes 
were  of  good  material,  but  never  looked  ' '  stylish : "  he  not 
only  had,  but  was  a  style  of  his  own.  His  tall  silk  hat  was 
not  always  exquisitely  groomed,  and  generally  came  down 
close  to  his  ears.  His  old-fashioned  calf -skin  boots  were  not 
invariably  up  to  the  most  exquisite  polish;  but  it  was  the 
man  and  not  the  clothes  that  occupied  your  thought. 

"You  have  no  case;  better  settle:"  I  have  heard  him 
tell  would-be  clients,  again  and  again.  He  would  not  ad 
vocate  a  cause  if  he  thought  it  was  in  the  wrong.  I  used  to 
think  he  was  losing  much  business  in  that  way ;  but  found 
that  he  was  very  likely  to  get  the  other  side  of  the  case  — 
thus  having  the  incalculable  advantage  of  being  in  the  right. 
His  practice  extended  throughout  a  large  circuit,  and  he 
was  always  picking  up  new  stories,  which  lost  nothing  by 
their  terse  and  epigrammatic  rendering.  Often  I  have  seen 
him  look  up  from  a  case  into  which  he  was  studying,  with 
the  remark,  "This  fellow  reminds  me  of  such  and  such  a 
story" — and  the  little  anecdote  always  fitted,  like  a  lady's 
glove. 

Outside  of  his  law-tomes,  I  never  noticed  that  Lincoln 
was  much  of  a  reader.  There  were  three  books,  however, 
in  which  he  could  have  been  thoroughly  examined,  and  come 
out  with  honors :  and  those  were  the  Bible,  Skakespear,  and 
Robert  Burns 's  poems.  I  frequently  listened  to  him  and 
Herndon  arguing  about  the  subject  of  slavery.  Strange  to 


LINCOLN'S  HERNDON 251 

say,  the  man  who  was  destined  within  five  years  to  liberate 
millions  of  negroes  by  a  stroke  of  his  pen,  was  not  nearly  so 
fervid  an  Abolitionist  as  his  partner.  When,  in  1860,  he 
made  his  now  famous  speech  at  Cooper  Institute,  New  York, 
he  began  to  be  whisperingly  suggested  for  President;  and, 
of  course,  we  in  the  office  began  to  build  White  House  castles 
for  him.  I  used  to  tell  him  he  was  sure  of  it.  He  would 
laugh  indulgently,  and  say,  ' '  John,  I  haven 't  a  chance  in  a 
hundred. ' '  But  I  kept  on,  and  even  got  my  discourse  ready- 
in  case  he  was  nominated.  I  asked  him  to  hear  it  and  criti 
cise  it  for  me.  He  steadfastly  refused,  till,  one  afternoon, 
he  came  into  the  office,  planted  himself  in  a  corner,  and  said, 
"Well,  John,  I  think  I  feel  strong  enough  this  afternoon  to 
stand  that  speech. ' '  He  still  laughed  at  the  idea  of  his  be 
ing  President. 

During  the  campaign  of  1856,  Mr.  Charles  S.  Zane  came  to 
Springfield  and  applied  to  become  a  law  student  in  the  office 
of  ' '  Lincoln  &  Herndon, ' '  a  firm  in  whose  favor  he  had  heard 
a  great  deal.  Lincoln  was  out  on  the  stump,  but  Mr.  Herndon 
received  the  young  man  cordially,  and  straightway  asked  as  to 
his  politics.  He  rejoiced  to  learn  that  Mr.  Zane  was  an  anti- 
slavery  man  and  a  Republican,  but  advised  him  to  keep  out  of 
politics  until  he  had  obtained  a  practice,  and  then  to  stay  out 
in  order  to  keep  it.  There  was  no  opening  in  the  office  for  a 
new  student,  and  Mr.  Zane  entered  another  office ;  but  this  was 
the  beginning  of  a  long  and  intimate  friendship  with  Mr.  Hern 
don,  whose  niece  he  afterwards  married.  The  following  year 
Mr.  Zane  received  a  license  to  practice  law,  and  opened  an 
office  upon  the  floor  of  the  same  building  just  above  that  oc 
cupied  by  Lincoln  &  Herndon.  At  the  request  of  the  author 
Judge  Zane  has  written  the  following  reminiscences  of  the  two 
partners  as  he  knew  them,  particularly  of  Mr.  Herndon,  of 
whom  he  gives  a  singularly  discriminating  estimate  both  as  a 
man  and  as  a  lawyer.  He  writes  -,1 

Beginning  the  practice  with  few  books,  they  cheerfully  gave 
me  the  benefit  of  their  library  and  sometimes  of  their  advice. 


i  Ms.  prepared  by  Judge  Zane,  May  18,  1910.  Judge  Zane  is  a 
resident  of  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  where  he  has  long  held  an  honored 
position  on  the  bench. 


252 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Under  such  circumstances  I  had  the  opportunity  of  observ 
ing  their  ways,  their  treatment  of  clients  of  varied  intelli 
gence  and  behavior,  and  of  learning  to  some  extent  their 
methods  and  of  inferring  their  temperaments,  dispositions 
and  tendencies.  I  also  heard  them  examine  witnesses  and 
argue  questions  of  law  and  fact  in  court.  After  Mr.  Lin 
coln  was  inaugurated  President,  Mr.  Herndon  and  I  formed 
a  partnership  which  continued  about  eight  years.  During 
that  time  my  relations  and  associations  with  Mr.  Herndon 
became  more  intimate. 

Mr.  Herndon  was  about  five  feet  nine  inches  in  height 
and  well  proportioned ;  his  movements  were  swift ;  he  was  a 
rapid  thinker,  writer  and  speaker,  and  usually  reached  his 
conclusions  quickly  and  expressed  them  forcibly  and  pos 
itively.  His  clients  usually  went  away  perfectly  satisfied 
with  his  advice.  He  examined  witnesses  rapidly,  and  was 
not  unfair,  persistent,  or  tedious.  He  was  always  courteous 
and  respectful  to  the  court  and  to  his  professional  brethren. 
He  was  popular  as  a  man,  as  a  lawyer,  and  as  a  public  speak 
er.  It  was  easy  to  follow  the  thread  of  his  argument.  He 
was  interesting  and  always  secured  the  attention  of  his  hear 
ers.  He  was  not  always  sufficiently  careful  as  to  his  prem 
ises  and  his  data.  In  this  he  was  unlike  his  famous  partner. 
Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  reasoner  was  careful  as  to  his  premises  and 
drew  his  inferences  cautiously  and  with  great  clearness.  It 
was  largely  this  and  his  ability  to  fathom  human  motives 
that  made  him  one  of  the  wisest  of  statesmen. 

In  their  office  and  elsewhere  the  partners  always  treated 
each  other  kindly  and  with  great  respect.  Mr.  Lincoln 
usually  called  his  partner  Billy  and  Mr.  Herndon  always  ad 
dressed  his  p/artner  as  Mr.  Lincoln.  Mr.  Herndon  as  a  rule 
considered  propositions  and  questions  in  the  abstract,  while 
Mr.  Lincoln  considered  them  more  in  the  concrete.  The  lat 
ter  had  great  capacity  for  analysis  and  generalization.  He 
was  an  adept  in  drawing  reasonable  inferences.  As  a  rule 
they  both  did  not  engage  in  the  trial  of  the  same  case.  So 
far  as  I  observed  them,  the  best  of  feeling  existed  between 
them.  Mr.  Herndon  was  very  charitable  in  judging  the  ac 
tions  and  the  conduct  of  his  fellow  men,  and  treated  them 
with  great  magnanimity  under  all  circumstances  calling  for 
an  expression  of  that  virtue.  He  never  harbored  ill-will  or 
malice  towards  any  man,  and  if  he  ever  had  an  enemy  I 
never  knew  it. 

He  was  regarded  as  a  good  offhand  lawyer,  and  as  a  rule 
did  not  spend  much  time  in  the  preparation  of  his  cases ;  in 


LINCOLN'S  HERNDON 253 

that  respect  he  was  like  Stephen  T.  Logan,  Mr.  Lincoln's 
former  partner;  he  was  wonderfully  ready.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  more  methodical  and  systematic.  Mr.  Herndon  thought 
he  was  too  careful  in  presenting  his  arguments  to  the  court, 
that  he  sometimes  spent  too  much  time  in  drawing  infer 
ences  in  support  of  his  propositions  and  in  reasoning  out  his 
positions. 

Mr.  Herndon  was  a  member  of  a  pro-slavery  family,  but 
when  the  Whig  party  to  which  he  belonged  dissolved  in  1854 
on  the  slavery  issue,  he  took  his  stand  with  the  anti-slavery 
Whigs  and  Democrats,  and  afterwards  helped  to  organize 
the  Republican  party  and  never  faltered  in  its  support.  He 
loved  justice  and  liberty,  was  tolerant  of  all  beliefs  and 
creeds,  and  believed  that  all  men  should  be  free  without  dis 
tinction  as  to  race  or  color. 

Another  "Lincoln  &  Herndon"  student  in  those  years  was 
Mr.  Henry  B.  Rankin,1  who  entered  the  office  in  the  mid-fifties 
and  made  it  his  business  home  until  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war.  His  parents  had  known  the  Greens,  Rutledges,  Hern- 
dons,  Spears,  and  other  old  friends  of  Lincoln  and  Herndon 
at  New  Salem,  and  his  mother  had  been  a  friend  of  Ann 
Rutledge.  Though  only  a  lad  fresh  from  school  when  he 
entered  the  office,  he  was  a  keen  observer  of  the  student-life 
of  the  two  men,  their  methods  of  work  and  processes  of  thought, 
—  the  slow  intellectual  movements  of  Lincoln,  the  familiar 
greatness  of  his  thought  and  the  plainness  of  his  speech,  con 
trasting  vividly  with  the  swift  and  facile  intellect  of  his  part 
ner,  whose  thought  was  a  series  of  pictures  and  whose  conver 
sation  was  picturesque  and  many-colored.  The  contrast  was 
indeed  complete;  Herndon  being  a  man  careless  of  dress,  of 
little  personal  dignity,  of  impetuous  temper,  addicted  at  times 

i  Mr.  Rankin  is  a  resident  of  Springfield,  111.,  and  has  been  for 
many  years  —  a  man  of  rare  insight  and  charm.  But  he  has  refused  to 
be  interviewed  by  Lincoln  students  hitherto  because  of  their  habitual 
injustice  to  Mr.  Herndon,  whom  he  knew  intimately  and  well.  He 
divined  the  greatness  of  Lincoln  from  the  first,  but  he  was  also  appre 
ciative  of  the  service  rendered  by  the  junior  member  of  the  firm.  Among 
his  treasures  are  a  number  of  mementoes  of  his  former  tutors  and  friends, 
including  the  files  of  the  Smithern  Literary  Messenger  which  came  to  the 
office.  The  author  of  this  study  is  indebted  to  Mr.  Eankin  equally  for 
his  suggestions  and  his  kindness. 


254  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

to  barn-yard  talk;  while  Lincoln  was  the  personification  of 
dignity,  but  did  not  know  it.  There  was  something  exquisite 
in  Lincoln,  a  native  majesty  and  refinement  of  soul,  which 
impressed  young  men  deeply.  Herndon  was  more  familiar, 
companionable,  and  less  reserved,  more  like  a  brother  to  the 
boys  who  wrestled  with  Blackstone  and  Kent. 

One  feature  of  this  partnership,  not  sufficiently  emphasized, 
was  the  unconscious  part  which  the  junior  member  played  in 
the  education  of  his  chief.  Widely  and  variously  read,  Hern 
don  was  a  brilliant  raconteur,  and  the  cream  of  his  reading 
poured  forth  in  his  office  talk,  while  his  partner  gravely  lis 
tened  and  mused.  Often  Lincoln  would  stretch  himself  on 
the  office  cot,  aweary  of  his  toil,  and  say,  "Now,  Billy,  tell  me 
about  the  books ; ' '  and  Herndon  would  discourse  by  the  hour, 
ranging  over  history,  literature,  philosophy,  and  science.  Out 
side  of  the  newspapers,  and  the  political  discussion  of  the  day, 
Lincoln  read  very  little,  nor  could  his  partner  induce  him  to 
do  so.  He  tried  to  read  Emerson,  whose  essays  and  addresses 
Herndon  so  much  admired,  but  the  thought  of  the  sage  was  too 
intangible  and  ethereal,  until  Emerson  came  down  to  earth, 
as  Carlyle  said,  and  wrote  The  Conduct  of  Life.  Herndon 
reveled  in  German  philosophy,  while  to  Lincoln  those  thinkers, 
so  far  as  he  "tackled"  them,  seemed  to  be  walking  a  tight  rope 
in  the  top  of  the  tent  or  reposing  upon  couches  of  ether.  When 
Walt  Whitman's  Leaves  of  Grass  came  out  Lincoln  under 
took  to  read  it,  only  to  be  repelled  by  its  rapturous  self-glori 
fication  and  its  vague,  dreamy  mysticism.  With  characteristic 
zest  Herndon  plunged  into  Darwin's  Origin  of  Species 
when  it  appeared,  but  Lincoln  refused  to  follow  on  the  plea 
that  the  water  was  too  deep.  He  was,  however,  interested  in 
Vestiges  of  Creation,  whose  dogma  of  the  universal  reign 
of  law  fitted  into  his  philosophy  in  which  there  were  no  acci 
dents.  He  frequently  perused  the  Westminster  and  Edin 
burgh  Reviews,  which  Herndon  kept  on  the  office  table,  but  he 
could  not  enthuse  over  Herbert  Spencer.  Occasionally,  when 
meditating  an  important  speech,  he  would  ask  his  partner  for 
books,  and  Herndon,  besides  furnishing  the  books,  would  some- 


LINCOLN'S  HEENDON  255 

times  make  a  brief  of  his  OAvn  reading  on  the  subject,  especially 
if  it  were  a  question  of  history.  After  this  manner  they 
worked  together,  comrades  and  friends,  totally  unlike  but  with 
the  utmost  good  feeling,  until  Fame  drove  her  chariot  through 
the  back  office. 

No  country  law  office  ever  had  a  finer  intellectual  air,  and 
this,  with  its  homely  simplicity  of  fraternity,  made  it  an  in 
spiring  place  for  young  men  to  study.  Indeed,  a  new  school 
of  eloquence  might  have  formed  itself  by  the  methods  of  Lin 
coln  —  depending  for  its  results  not  upon  the  subtlety  of 
rhetoric,  nor  the  magic  of  elocution,  but  claiming  attention 
and  assent  by  direct  and  honest  appeals  to  the  common  under 
standing.  Both  partners  were  gracious  to  young  men,  by 
nature  as  well  as  by  political  habit,  and  Herndon  was  particu 
larly  eager  to  enlist  their  interest  in  books  of  general  culture. 
But  by  the  qualities  of  their  minds  both  men  dealt  with  the 
weightier  matters  of  the  law,  rather  than  with  its  ' '  mint,  anise 
and  cummin,"  and  they  were  poor  models  in  the  conduct  of 
an  orderly  office. 

Ill 

If  Lincoln  did  not  see  the  White  House  at  the  end  of  the 
road  he  was  now  traveling,  he  must  have  had  dreams  of  it. 
His  debates  with  Douglas  had  revealed  him  in  one  of  his  rarest 
parts  —  his  command  of  the  minds  of  men  by  his  artless  and 
unstudied  oratory.1  Not  that  he  neglected  to  study  the  ques 
tions  he  debated;  no  counsel  ever  gave  more  attention  to  the 
points  of  his  case;  but  when  once  thought  out,  the  argument 
moved  with  a  familiar  and  effective  freedom  in  its  appeal  to 
the  common  sense  and  native  honesty  of  men.  He  was  now 
freely  spoken  of  for  the  highest  office  in  the  land,  first  in  a 
whisper  among  his  friends,  and  then  in  an  ever-widening 
circle.  To  T.  J.  Pickett  in  April,  1859,  he  wrote,  "I  must  in 
candor  say  that  I  do  not  think  myself  fit  for  the  Presidency. ' ' 

1  See  Elaine's  estimate  of  Lincoln  as  an  orator,  Twenty  Years  of 
Congress,  Vol.  I,  p.  145;  also  that  of  I.  N.  Arnold,  Life  of  Lincoln, 
pp.  139,  144  (1884). 


256  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDQN 

To  others  he  wrote  in  the  same  way,  intimating  that  he  would 
rather  be  in  the  Senate  than  in  the  White  House,  but  no  one 
knew  better  than  he  the  value  of  a  becoming  modesty. 

Once  started,  the  movement  spread  rapidly  and  strongly. 
It  was  pointed  out  that  he  had  all  the  requisites  of  an  available 
man.  He  had  not  been  in  office  to  incur  the  jealousies  of  pow 
erful  rivals ;  he  had  made  a  valiant  fight  in  his  own  State ;  he 
was  manly,  able,  and  true ;  above  all  he  was  a  man  of  the 
people,  in  reality  not  in  pose,  having  been  a  rail-splitter,  a 
flat-boatman,  a  grocery  keeper  —  everything  that  could  com 
mend  him  to  the  heart  of  the  masses.  His  manners,  his  dress, 
his  stories,  and  his  popular  name  of  "Honest  Old  Abe," 
marked  him  as  a  man  whose  "running  qualities"  out-num 
bered  those  of  Harrison  or  Taylor.  That  Lincoln  was  aware 
of  all  this  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  his  movements  were  as 
adroit  as  his  words  were  modest:  he  laughed  at  the  idea  of 
his  being  President  while  in  the  very  act  of  planning  to  bring 
it  about. 

Naturally  he  was  catechised  as  to  his  position  on  various 
public  questions.  Writing  to  Edward  Wallace  who  had  asked 
his  views  on  the  tariff,  he  said  that  he  had  formerly  been  a 
Henry  Clay  tariff  Whig  and  had  made  more  speeches  on  that 
subject  than  on  any  other.  Nor  had  his  views  changed  since. 
He  held  that  if  there  could  be  a  moderate,  carefully  adjusted 
protective  tariff,  so  far  acquiesced  in  as  not  to  be  a  perpetual 
subject  of  political  strife,  squabbles,  changes,  and  uncertain 
ties,  it  would  be  well.  Still,  in  his  opinion,  the  revival  of  that 
question  just  now  "will  not  advance  the  cause  itself,  or  the 
man  who  revives  it."  One  of  the  German  leaders,  Dr.  Can- 
isius,  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  the  restriction  upon  natur 
alization  recently  adopted  in  Massachusetts,  and  whether  he 
favored  a  fusion  of  all  the  opposition  elements  in  the  next 
canvass.  He  replied,  that,  as  to  the  restrictions,  he  was  unal 
terably  opposed  to  them,  and  as  to  fusion,  he  would  not  lower 
"the  Republican  standard  even  by  a  hair's  breadth."  His 
astute  frankness  won  confidence,  and  while  he  did  not  parry 
issues  he  did  insist  that  attention  be  kept  fixed  on  the  one 
great  issue  before  the  nation. 


LINCOLN'S  HERNDON 257 

Once  more,  in  September,  1859,  Lincoln  left  his  office  for 
politics,  at  the  call  of  his  party  in  Ohio,  speaking  at  Columbus 
and  at  Cincinnati.  Douglas  had  passed  through  the  State 
before  him  in  behalf  of  the  Democrats,  and  Lincoln  was  eager 
to  reply  to  his  old  foe,  which  he  did  in  two  of  his  best  orations, 
free  of  the  personal  feeling  which  in  the  heat  of  the  Illinois 
contest  had  found  its  way  into  the  debates.  Besides,  Douglas 
had  recently  written  "a  copyright  essay"  for  Harper's  Maga 
zine  expatiating  at  length  and  learnedly  upon  the  sanctity  and 
efficacy  of  "popular  sovereignty,"  and  this  gave  Lincoln  an 
opportunity  to  restate  his  views  in  apt  and  epigrammatic 
fashion.  At  Columbus,  after  denying  that  he  had  any  right 
or  inclination  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States  where  it 
existed,  or  that  he  was  in  favor  of  negro  suffrage  —  "a  vile 
conception "  -  he  took  the  essay  of  Douglas  for  his  text,  along 
with  the  remark  of  the  Senator  in  his  Memphis  speech,  that, 
in  a  fight  between  a  negro  and  a  crocodile,  he  would  be  on 
the  side  of  the  negro.  At  Cincinnati  the  following  evening 
he  spoke  in  an  entirely  different  manner,  it  being  the  first 
time  in  his  life,  he  began,  that  he  had  appeared  "before  an 
audience  in  so  great  a  city."  His  speech  was  addressed,  not 
without  playful  irony,  to  the  Kentuckians  whom  Douglas  had 
said  he  desired  to  shoot  at  over  the  river  to  the  destruction  of 
domestic  peace.  This  gave  novelty  to  his  effort,  so  that  his 
arguments,  although  in  no  sense  new,  wore  another  guise. 

These  two  speeches,  at  once  timely  and  effective,  weighed 
heavily  in  the  balance  in  Ohio  that  year,  while  at  the  same 
time  they  called  attention  to  the  orator.  His  relation  of  good- 
fellowship  with  his  audiences,  his  humor  and  tact  in  face  of 
interruptions,  his  homely  imagery  and  catchy  phrases,  were 
far-reaching  in  effect.  These  speeches  were  afterwards  pub 
lished  in  a  volume  with  the  debates  and  sold  in  editions  aggre 
gating  many  thousands  of  copies.  Some  of  his  pithy  sayings 
may  illustrate  the  new  garbs  in  which  he  clothed  old  argu 
ments  : 

Now,  what  is  Judge  Douglas 's  popular  sovereignty  ?     It  is, 
as  a  principle,  no  other  than  that,  if  one  man  chooses  to 


258 


make  a  slave  of  another  man,  neither  that  man  nor  anybody 
else  has  a  right  to  object. 

He  proceeds  to  assume,  without  proving  it,  that  slavery 
is  one  of  those  little,  unimportant,  trivial  matters  which  are 
of  just  about  as  much  consequence  as  the  question  would 
be,  whether  my  neighbor  should  raise  horned  cattle  or  plant 
tobacco;  that  there  is  no  moral  question  about  it,  but  that 
it  is  altogether  a  matter  of  dollars  and  cents ;  that  when  a 
new  Territory  is  opened  for  settlement,  the  first  man  who 
goes  into  it  may  plant  there  a  thing  which,  like  the  Canada 
thistle  or  some  other  of  those  pests  of  the  soil,  cannot  be 
dug  out  by  the  millions  of  men  who  come  thereafter. 

I  suppose  the  institution  of  slavery  really  looks  small 
to  him.  He  is  so  put  up  by  nature  that  a  lash  upon  his 
back  would  hurt,  but  a  lash  upon  anybody  else's  back  does 
not  hurt  him.  That  is  the  build  of  the  man.  .  .  .  Judge 
Douglas  ought  to  remember  that  .  .  .  while  he  is  put 
up  in  that  way  a  good  many  are  not. 

There  was  some  inconsistency  in  saying  that  the  Dred 
Scott  decision  was  right,  and  saying,  too,  that  the  people 
*>f  the  Territory  could  lawfully  drive  slavery  out  again. 
When  all  the  trash  .  .  .  was  cleared  away  from  it  — 
all  the  chaff  fanned  out  of  it,  it  was  a  bare  absurdity  —  no 
less  than  that  a  thing  may  be  lawfully  driven  away  from 
where  it  has  a  lawful  right  to  be. 

That  is  all.  It  is  a  mere  matter  of  policy;  there  is  a 
perfect  right  according  to  interest  to  do  just  as  you  please  — 
when  this  is  done,  where  this  doctrine  prevails,  the  miners 
and  sappers  will  have  formed  public  opinion  for  the  slave- 
trade.  They  will  be  ready  for  Jeff  Davis  and  Stephens 
and  other  leaders  of  that  company. 

These  popular  sovereigns  are  at  this  work;  blowing  out 
the  moral  lights  around  us;  teaching  that  the  negro  is  no 
longer  a  man  but  a  brute ;  that  the  Declaration  has  nothing 
to  do  with  him;  that  he  ranks  with  the  crocodile  and  the 
reptile ;  that  man,  with  body  and  soul,  is  a  matter  of  dollars 
and  cents. 

In  many  of  the  Slave  States  .  .  .  you  are  trying  to 
show  that  slavery  existed  in  the  Bible  times  by  divine  ordi 
nance.  Now,  Douglas  is  wiser  than  you,  for  your  own  benefit, 
upon  that  subject.  Douglas  knows  that  whenever  you  estab 
lish  that  slavery  was  right  by  the  Bible,  it  will  occur  that 
that  slavery  was  the  slavery  of  the  ivhite  man  —  of  men 
without  reference  to  color  —  and  he  knows  very  well  that 
you  may  entertain  that  idea  in  Kentucky  as  much  as  you 


LINCOLN'S  HERNDON 259 

please,  but  you  will  never  win  any  Northern  support  upon  it. 
I  say  that  there  is  room  enough  for  us  all  to  be  free,  and 
that  it  not  only  does  not  wrong  the  white  man  that  the 
negro  should  be  free,  but  it  positively  wrongs  the  mass  of 
the  white  men  that  the  negro  should  be  enslaved ;  that  the 
mass  of  white  men  are  really  injured  by  the  effects  of  slave 
labor  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fields  of  their  own  labor. 

Eumors  that  ' '  the  tall  Sucker ' '  was  an  aspirant  for  the  White 
House  had  traveled  apace,  and,  after  reading  his  speeches  in 
Ohio,  the  leaders  of  the  East  wanted  to  see  and  hear  him. 
Early  in  October  Lincoln  "looked  pleased,  not  to  say  tickled," 
as  Herndon  puts  it,  when  he  came  into  the  office  with  a  letter 
inviting  him  to  speak  in  New  York. 

' '  Billy,  I  am  invited  to  deliver  a  lecture  in  New  York.  Shall 
I  go  ? "  he  said,  tossing  the  letter  on  the  table. 

' '  By  all  means, ' '  said  his  partner ; ' '  and  it  is  a  good  opening, 
too.  Go,  Mr.  Lincoln;  make  your  best  effort.  Speak  with 
your  usual  lucidity  and  thoroughness." 

"If  you  were  in  my  fix,  what  subject  would  you  choose?" 
asked  Lincoln,  who,  apart  from  politics,  would  as  soon  take 
for  his  theme  ' '  The  Beautiful ' '  as  anything  else,  when  he  had 
almost  no  sense  of  it. 

"Why,  a  political  one,"  replied  his  partner  quickly,  "that 
is  your  forte;"  for  Herndon  dreaded  the  thought  of  a  lecture, 
remembering  the  dismal  failure  of  his  friend  in  that  field. 
Lincoln  wrote  in  response  to  the  invitation,  that  he  would 
avail  himself  of  it  the  coming  February,  provided  he  might  be 
permitted  to  make  a  political  speech  in  case  he  did  not  find 
time  to  prepare  one  of  another  kind.  Whereupon  he  set  to 
work  preparing  his  speech,  which  cost  him  more  toil  than  any 
other  speech  of  his  life,  and  the  march  of  events  came  to  his  aid. 

Late  in  October  news  flashed  over  the  wires  which  set  the 
nation,  North  and  South,  afire.  John  Brown,1  a  zealot  of 

i  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Brown,  by  F.  B.  Sanborn  (1910).  This 
is  by  far  the  best  account  of  Brown,  his  personal  history  and  intellectual 
qualities,  his  plans,  dreams,  and  desperate  endeavors;  the  author  being 
implicated  with  him  in  his  undertaking.  See  Eecollections  of  Seventy 
Years,  by  F.  B.  Sanborn,  pp.  187-252  (1909).  For  Mr.  Parker's  con- 


260  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

the  Cromwellian  type,  had  entered  Virginia  with  two  sons  and 
a  small  band,  with  hope  of  inciting  the  slaves  to  insurrection. 
He  had  been  active  in  the  Kansas  wars,  where  one  of  his  sons 
had  been  shot  by  a  clerical  champion  of  slavery  from  Missouri, 
and  where  at  the  point  of  the  rifle  he  had  forced  a  band  of 
ruffians  to  kneel  and  pray,  probably  for  the  first  time  In  their 
lives.  Exalted  by  his  enthusiasm,  yet  acting  with  the  coolest 
intrepidity  and  sagacity,  he  seized  Harper's  Ferry,  where 
there  was  a  Federal  arsenal,  and  called  the  slaves  to  freedom 
—  inspired  by  the  notion,  long  current,  that  the  slaves  were 
restless,  discontented,  and  ready  to  rebel,  awaiting  only  an 
opportunity  and  a  leader  to  break  out  in  efficacious  revolt. 
It  was  not  the  first  instance  in  history  in  which  a  reformer, 
stung  to  frenzy  by  towering  wrong,  erred  by  attributing  to 
those  whom  he  would  help  feelings  to  which  they  were  strang 
ers.  Valiantly,  but  in  vain,  he  appealed  to  the  slaves  to  follow 
his  leadership.  No  slaves  answered  his  call,  and  he  was  soon 
surrounded,  with  his  party;  his  two  sons  were  shot,  and  he, 
fighting  with  almost  unearthly  courage,  was  wounded  and 
overpowered. 

Not  only  Virginia,  but  the  whole  South,  was  wild  with  panic 
and  rage,  while  in  the  North  there  was  much  sympathy  for 
Brown,  disguising  itself  under  faint  disapprobation.  All  along 
the  leaders  of  the  South  had  charged  upon  Abolitionists  that 
they  sought  to  bring  about  the  instant  and  immediate  eman 
cipation  they  demanded  by  incendiary  methods;  and  now 
their  charge  seemed  to  be  not  without  ground.  Abolition 
tracts  were  freely  scattered  throughout  the  Slave  States;  pic 
tures  printed  upon  cheap  handkerchiefs,  such  as  might  be 
easily  circulated  among  the  slaves,  were  sent  —  the  only  effect 
of  which,  whatever  may  have  been  the  object,  was  to  instigate 
insurrection.  Of  course,  Southern  politicians  held  the  Re 
publican  party  responsible  not  only  for  these  tactics,  but  for 
the  John  Brown  invasion.  And,  of  course,  that  was  not  true ; 
but  even  in  ordinary  times  when  partisan  rancor  enters  reason 
and  fairness  take  wings. 

nection  with  Brown,  see  Theodore  Parker,  by  J.  W.  Chadwick,  pp.  319- 
345,  365  (1900),  and  by  Sanborn  in  the  latest  volume  of  Parker's  Works 
(1910). 


LINCOLN'S  HERNDON  261 

What  Lincoln,  in  the  recesses  of  his  heart,  thought  of  old 
John  Brown,  we  are  left  to  conjecture ;  but  we  know  how  he 
refuted  the  charge  that  his  party,  as  a  party,  was  behind  that 
picturesque  but  fatuous  foray.  In  December  he  went  to  Kan 
sas,  a  stronghold  of  Douglasism,  lured  by  the  hope  of  winning 
its  hard-fisted,  self-reliant  frontier  citizens  from  the  insidious 
dogma  of  "popular  sovereignty,"  with  which  they  were  in 
fatuated.  He  spoke  at  Elwood,  Doniphan,  Troy,  Atchison, 
and  twice  at  Leavenworth,  and  was  everywhere  received  with 
ovations  which  astonished  and  gratified  him.  Only  a  few  ran 
dom  jottings  of  his  speeches  in  Kansas  have  been  preserved ;  l 
but  happily  one  of  them  was  reported,  though  it  has  been 
strangely  neglected  and  forgotten.  On  December  2nd,  the 
day  that  John  Brown  was  executed,2  he  spoke  at  Troy,  and 
this  speech  should  be  better  known  :8 

You  people  of  Kansas  will  soon  have  to  bear  a  part  in  the 
national  government  —  wrhich  has  always  had,  has  had, 
and  must  continue  to  have,  a  policy  regarding  slavery.  Such 
a  policy  must  of  necessity  take  one  of  two  directions.  It 
must  deal  with  negro  slavery  either  as  wrong  or  as  not 
wrong.  In  our  early  national  policy,  indicated  by  the  pro 
hibition  of  slavery  in  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  by  the 


1  Complete   Works  of  Lincoln,  by  Nicolay   and  Hay,   Vol.   I,   p.   585 
(1894). 

2  John  Brown  was  hanged  at  Charlestown,  Va.,  Dec.  2,  1858,  and  met 
his  fate  with  martyr  calmness.     His  bearing  impressed  even  his  enemies. 
—  Life  of  Governor  Wise,  by  J.  S.  Wise   (1899).     The  consolations  of 
religion,  tendered  him  by  a  pro-slavery  clergyman,  he  declined,  probably 
remembering  the  clerical  filibuster  who  shot  his  son  in  Kansas.     Among 
the  Virginia  militia  who  surrounded  the  scaffold  was  John  Wilkes  Booth  — 
the  assassin  of  Lincoln  —  who  was  an  actor  in  Richmond,  and  left  his  the 
ater  to  join  Company  F  for  that  day.  —  Life  of  Brown,  by  F.  B.  Sanborn, 
p.  626  (1910).     Whatever  may  be  thought  of  John  Brown's  methods,  he 
must  have   been  an   unusual   man   to   have   won   the   sympathy  and   aid 
of  such  men  as  Parker,  Emerson,  S.   G.  Howe,  Gerritt  Smith,  Stearns, 
Sanborn,  and  others.     In  the  war  that  ensued  his  soul  went  marching  on 
in  a  battle  hymn. 

a  D.  W.  Wilder,  the  historian  of  Kansas,  was  present  and  heard  the 
speech,  reporting  it  to  his  old  school  friend,  F.  B.  Sanborn;  by  whose 
kindness  it  is  here  used.  For  Wilder 's  memories  of  Lincoln  in  Kansas, 
see  Life  of  Brown,  by  F.  B.  Sanborn,  pp.  183-4  (1910). 


262 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

declaration  against  the  foreign  slave-trade,  the  idea  must 
have  been  that  slavery  was  a  wrong,  only  to  be  tolerated 
because  it  was  actually  present.  But  now  a  new  policy  has 
come  in,  based  on  the  idea  that  slavery  is  not  wrong,  and  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  Act,  under  which  you  have  been  living, 
has  applied  this  new  policy.  How  do  you  like  it?  You 
have  tested  it  for  the  first  time  on  a  large  scale,  and  here 
are  your  results : 

Five  years  of  conflict  almost  continuous,  with  fire  and 
slaughter;  four  or  five  State  constitutions,  and  at  last  one 
that  admits  you  to  the  Union  as  a  Free  State.  After  all  the 
difficulties  that  you  know  so  well,  you  will  not  get  what  we, 
of  Illinois,  got  in  that  old  Northwest  Territory,  without  any 
difficulty  to  speak  of. 

Look,  then,  at  these  two  policies  as  they  actually  worked, 
and  tell  me,  if,  after  all,  the  good  old  way  of  Washington 
and  Jefferson  was  not  the  better  of  the  two  ?  For  the  new 
policy  has  proved  false  to  all  its  fine  promises,  to  the  nation 
and  to  you,  its  victims.  To  the  nation  it  promised  the  end 
of  the  slavery  agitation,  and  that  speedily  —  but  just  the 
contrary  has  happened.  To  you  it  promised  to  give  a  greater 
control  of  your  own  local  affairs ;  yet,  by  actual  trial,  daily 
and  yearly,  you  have  had  less  control  of  them,  and  have  been 
more  bedeviled  by  outside  interference  than  any  other  Amer 
ican  people  ever  were.  This  new  scheme  of  "popular  sov 
ereignty,"  had  it  been  honest,  would  have  given  you  the 
right  of  choosing  your  own  Governors  —  a  very  small  right. 
For  if  there  is  any  reason  why  State  privileges  should  not 
be  given  at  once  to  a  Territory,  it  must  be  because  the  pop 
ulation  is  small.  But,  if  while  your  numbers  were  few 
you  were  fit  to  do  some  things  and  not  to  do  others,  it  must 
have  been  the  more  important  things  that  you  were  unfit 
to  do,  while  you  might  do  the  smaller  things.  Now  in  for 
bidding  you  to  elect  your  own  Governor,  while  allowing  you 
to  plant  negro  slavery  here,  the  only  just  reason  must  be 
that  it  was  a  small  thing  to  plant  slavery  here,  and  a  much 
bigger  thing  to  elect  Governors.  Was  it  so  in  fact  ? 

Which  have  you  found  to  be  the  greater  matter  of  the 
two?  Here  you  have  had  five  Governors  chosen  for  you, 
and  it  is  very  doubtful  if  you  who  hear  me  can  remember 
the  names  of  half  of  them.  They  are  gone,  hardly  leaving 
a  single  trace  in  Kansas,  or  having  done  a  single  thing  that 
can  help  or  hurt  you  in  the  vast,  indefinite  future.  That, 
my  friends,  is  about  the  size  of  your  Governor  question. 
But  now  look  at  your  slavery  question.  If  your  first  set- 


LINCOLN'S  HEBNDON 263 

tiers,  believing  slavery  all  right,  while  you  think  it  all  wrong, 
had  got  5,000  slaves  planted  here  on  your  free  soil,  you 
never  could  have  got  your  free  constitution.  The  owners 
of  these  5,000  slaves  would  have  been  as  good  as  the  rest  of 
you,  and,  being  rich,  would  perhaps  have  had  more  influence. 
You  would  not  wish  to  destroy  their  property ;  and  would  not 
know  what  to  do  with  this  human  property  if  they  were 
set  free.  All  the  rest  of  your  property  would  not  have  paid 
for  sending  5,000  free  negroes  to  Liberia;  but  you  could 
have  got  rid  of  500  Governors,  not  to  mention  five,  much 
more  easily.  Which  then  is  the  bigger  and  safer  question, 
the  slave  issue  or  the  Governor  issue? 

So  much  for  my  Kansas  hearers.  But  I  have  hearers 
from  Missouri,  too,  this  night;  and  I  have  a  few  words  for 
you  of  Missouri.  You  say  that  we  have  made  this  slave 
issue  more  prominent  of  late  years,  and  are  to  blame  for 
that.  We  deny  it.  It  is  more  prominent,  but  we  say  it 
was  you  who  made  it  so.  The  good  old  policy  of  Washing 
ton,  Jefferson,  and  Henry  Clay  was  not  good  enough  for 
you.  You  must  have  a  change  of  policy:  Slavery  must  be 
called  right  instead  of  wrong.  We  say  the  only  way  of 
treating  human  slavery  is  as  a  wrong.  You  don 't  like  that, 
and  you  don 't  like  the  Kansas  situation ;  well,  if  you  do  not, 
why  not  go  back  to  the  good  old  policy  ?  But  you  say  our 
success  as  Republicans  will  destroy  our  sacred  Union.  How 
so?  Do  we  Republicans  declare  against  the  Union?  Not 
at  all.  It  is  you  who  say:  "If  these  black  Republicans 
choose  a  President,  we  won 't  stand  it ; "  you  will  then  break 
up  the  Union.  What!  Do  you  really  think  it  right  to 
destroy  it  rather  than  see  it  administered  as  Washington 
and  Jefferson  did  ?  You  have  elected  your  Presidents  and 
we  submitted ;  if  we  elect  one,  our  duty  will  be  to  make  you 
submit. 

Isn  't  that  fair  ?  Old  John  Brown  thought  slavery  wrong, 
as  we  do ;  he  attacked  contrary  to  law,  and  it  availed  him 
nothing  before  the  law  that  he  thought  himself  right.  He 
has  just  been  hanged  for  treason  against  the  State  of  Vir 
ginia;  and  we  cannot  object,  though  he  agreed  with  us  in 
calling  slavery  wrong.  Now  if  you  undertake  to  destroy 
the  Union  contrary  to  law,  if  you  commit  treason  against 
the  United  States,  our  duty  will  be  to  deal  with  you  as  John 
Brown  has  been  dealt  with.  We  shall  try  to  do  our  duty. 

Surely  this  was  plain  speech ;  but  it  showed  what  Lincoln  in  a 
calm  and  level  mood  thought  of  the  scene,  local  and  national, 


204 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

as  it  lay  spread  out  before  him.  Two  weeks  later  we  find 
Herndon  writing  his  last  letter  to  Theodore  Parker,  who  was 
in  Rome  and  reported  to  be  improving  in  health,  but  was  in 
fact  still  deeper  in  the  grave.  He,  too,  has  somewhat  to  say 
about  John  Brown,  in  whose  wild  and  daring  escapade  lie  sees 
a  red  signal  of  civil  war,  while  for  the  first  time  in  his  letters 
he  names  Lincoln  among  the  possibilities  for  the  Presidency. 
It  is,  in  its  way,  a  remarkable  letter : 

Springfield,  111.,  Dec.  15,  1859. 
Friend  Parker. 

Dear  Sir :  —  It  has  been  a  long  time  since  I  wrote  to  you, 
and  though  I  have  not  done  so  I  have  not  forgotten  you. 
I,  in  spirit,  was  with  you  on  the  Antilles,  where  the  great 
hero  broke  the  chains  of  his  people ;  was  with  you  in  the 
Alps  —  in  Switzerland;  and  now  I  follow  you  to  Rome, 
where  Brutus 's  dagger  gleamed  bright  against  the  despotism 
of  Cffisar.  Though  this  is  true,  I  am  still  amidst  such  a 
glaring,  heavy,  hot  and  angry  despotism  that  the  blood  runs 
cold,  and  almost  crystallizes.  Such  a  heavy,  haughty  des 
potism  the  world  never  saw.  We  are  verging  towards  a 
Civil  War,  or  a  peaceable  disunion.  I  do  not  want  to  see  or 
feel  either,  but  voice  and  arm  are  too  weak  to  stay  the  tide. 
What  God's  providence  announces  in  the  logic  of  sweeping 
events,  I  cannot  control,  and  have  no  arrogant  desire  to  do 
so.  ' '  Let  God 's  will  be  done, ' '  and  I  am  content. 

Since  your  departure  from  America  much  has  been  done, 
that  makes  the  heart  hope,  and  much  that  forces  the  soul 
to  despair.  All  through  the  South  the  ''fanatics"  are 
driving  out  all  good  men.  Let  this,  too,  go  on  uncontrolled ; 
it  will  force  on  the  indolent,  indifferent,  there,  as  well  as 
North,  the  necessary  laws  of  human  thought  —  the  ideas  of 
human  rights ;  it  will  drive  good  men  northward ;  it  is 
Nature's  providence,  wiser,  too,  than  our  little  philosophies 
and  logics;  and  it  will  bring  on  the  great  issue,  high  as 
heaven,  as  deep  as  hell. 

John  Brown's  raid  in  Virginia  has  somewhat  awoke  us 
to  the  "irrepressible  conflict"  -  has  roused  us  to  the  great 
ness  and  grandeur  of  America's  coming  events;  his  death 
has  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the  American  world.  His 
deeds  are  sweeping  from  the  great  tall  heads  to  the  mass  of 
our  people.  You  have  no  idea  of  the  influence  of  John 
Brown's  acts.  We  do  not  approve  the  deeds,  though  we 
deeply  sympathize  with  the  man  and  his  motives.  Poor  old 


LINCOLN'S  HERNDON 265 

John  Brown :  he  was  good  and  great  and  is  immortal  —  will 
live  amidst  the  world's  gods  and  heroes  through  all  the 
infinite  ages.  "/  still  live"  of  John  Brown  will  ever  ring 
along  heaven's  blue  domes  of  the  future.  As  the  Masons 
say,  "So  mote  it  be." 

Wendell  Phillips  made  a  most  glorious  speech  in  Beech- 
er's  church1  a  few  weeks  before  the  execution  of  Brown: 
it  was  polished,  chaste,  eloquent;  it  was  a  living  thing, 
breathing  out  fire  and  defiance.  Corwin  says  it  was  the  finest 
thing  he  ever  heard ;  he  was  on  the  stand  at  the  time  Phillips 
spoke.  Phillips  has  made  one  or  two  other  speeches  on 
John  Brown  and  his  times.  His  speeches,  I  understand,  are 
for  the  present  rolled  up  —  their  publication  delayed  on 
account  of  the  insolvency  of  the  Boston  firm  who  were  to 
publish  the  speeches.  I  am  sorry  for  this,  for  I  wanted 
to  read  and  study  them.  To  show  you  the  interest  felt  in 
John  Brown,  no  less  than  three  biographies  are  proposed 
to  be  issued.  So  mote  that  be,  too. 

Whilst  I  am  speaking  of  books,  let  me  say  that  the  world 
is  ' '  asleep ' '  on  the  publication  of  good  new  books.  Europe 
is  no  better  in  this  particular  than  America.  I  understand 
that  Emerson  is  soon  to  publish  a  new  work  called  "The 
Conduct  of  Life."  I  hope,  I  know,  it  will  be  good. 

Now  for  squabbling  politics.  There  are  several  good  men 
spoken  of  for  President  —  among  them  are  Seward,  Chase, 
Banks,  Lincoln,  Bates,  Bell,  etc.  I  have  a  letter  now  in 
my  hand  from  Philosopher  Greeley :  he  says  he  is  for  Bates 
of  Missouri,  and  Read  of  Pennsylvania.  Greeley  is  getting 
quite  conservative :  he  is  a  timid  man ;  he  is  willing  to 
agitate  for  an  idea  during  its  abstract  state,  but  he  shudders 
when  it  is  about  to  concrete  itself  amidst  living  events,  hu 
man  conditions,  social,  religious,  or  political.  He  will  not 
do  for  a  great  leader  of  America 's  present  events :  he  will  do 
to  lead  in  small  and  unimportant  events,  political  or  social ; 
but  not  where  absolute  principles  will  squeeze  out  blood,  if 
necessary,  to  get  themselves  applied ;  he  is  fine  for  theoretic 
principles  —  not  heaven-high  ones  applied.  Greeley  is, 
however,  an  honest  man  and  I  still  like  him  somewhat. 


1  It  should  not  be  inferred  from  this  that  Beecher  approved  of  the 
methods  of  John  Brown.  Beeeher  was  not,  strictly  speaking,  an  Aboli 
tionist,  but  a  constitutional  anti-slavery  reformer  of  the  school  of  Lin 
coln.  —  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  Lyman  Abbott,  pp.  152-194  (1903).  But 
Phillips  had  been  denied  an  audience  room  in  the  city,  and  Beechor,  as 
a  friend  of  free  speech,  threw  open  the  doors  of  Plymouth  Church. 
—  Life  of  Beecher,  by  J.  H.  Barrows,  pp.  191-2  (1893). 


266  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

The  Republicans  in  Congress  are  grinding  off  the  flesh 
from  their  knee  caps,  attempting  to  convince  the  Southern 
men  that  we  are  cowards.  We  are  cowards,  that  is,  our 
Representatives  are.  But  here,  friend,  if  a  man  makes  me 
bite  the  dust  to  get  what  is  my  due,  or  to  get  a  favor,  when 
I  do  arise  from  my  humiliation  I  rise  with  clenched  fists, 
hitting  my  tyrant  with  a  quick  back-slap.  This  is  the  law 
of  our  nature,  and  look  out,  distant  in  the  future,  for  this 
law  in  its  application.  I  feel  like  I  wanted  to  scorch  off 
the  disgrace  of  our  kneeling,  whining  cowardice.  The  peo 
ple  must  be  educated. 

The  South  is  now  catechizing  the  North.  To  this  ques 
tion,  ' '  What  is  the  true  end  of  man  ? "  it  stands  and  shiver- 
ingly  answers,  "The  chief  end  of  man  is  to  support  the 
nigger  institution,  and  to  apologize  to  despots!"  I  might 
turn  out  to  be  a  coward,  if  I  were  in  Congress :  but  I  think, 
if  I  were  asked  that  question,  I  should  say,  ' '  Resistance  to 
nigger-drivers  —  individual  tyrants  —  is  fealty  to  man  and 
obedience  to  God."  The  Senators  are  all  on  their  knees. 
So  are  the  Representatives.  Let  them  shrive  themselves 
there,  and  mankind  will  avenge  the  humiliation  in  the  future. 
This  is  God's  constant  mode  of  operation.  The  race  will 
pull  the  trigger  which  the  individual  refused  to  touch.  God 
will  cry  to  the  race,  ' '  Fire, ' '  and  it  will  fire.  We  will  then 
apologize  upward. 

Senator  Douglas  is  backing  down  to  the  command  of  the 
slave  driver,  and  Kellogg,  of  Illinois,  is  after  Greeley  and 
Douglas  for  their  conspiracy  to  beat  Lincoln.  Let  the  facts 
come.  Human  history  is  a  great  magnet  held  up  and 
swung  over  facts,  drawing  them  up,  sticking  them  logically 
amidst  the  world's  great  and  small  events.  Garrison,  I 
fear,  is  not  doing  much.  He  is,  however,  always  firm,  and 
as  you  once  said  to  me,  "I  have  no  more  fear  of  Garrison 
than  of  the  shrinkage  of  the  world's  granite  ribs,  holding 
us  up."  The  North  is  gradually  being  educated  in  ideas 
and  in  arms.  Instinct  and  nature  drive  them  to  prepare. 
I  want  peace ;  but  if  God  says  otherwise  —  "so  mote  it  be." 
Are  you  writing  your  great  book  in  Rome?  How  are  you 
and  how  does  old  Rome  look  ?  I  hope  you  are  well. 

Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

IV 

On  February  25,  1860,  Lincoln  arrived  in  New  York  City  to 
deliver  his  speech  at  the  Cooper  Institute.     It  was  Saturday, 


LINCOLN'S  HERNDON 267 

and  he  spent  the  whole  day  in  revising  and  retouching  his 
address,  for  he  was  a  believer  in  the  inspiration  of  last  mo 
ments.  On  the  Sabbath  he  attended  worship  at  Plymouth 
Church,  and  after  the  sermon  dined  with  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
at  the  house  of  a  friend.1  While  walking  alone  in  the  afternoon 
he  looked  in  upon  a  mission  Sunday-school  where  he  was 
invited  to  talk  to  the  children  who,  whenever  he  made  a,  move 
ment  to  stop  cried  out,  "  Go  on !  Oh,  do  go  on !"  As  he  rose  to 
depart,  the  leader,  asking  the  name  of  his  visitor,  was  sur 
prised  to  hear  the  answer,  ' '  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Illinois. ' ' 2 
On  Monday  he  wandered  about  the  city  to  see  the  sights,  and 
in  a  book-store,  where  he  stopped  to  get  a  book  ordered  by 
Herndon,  he  met  George  Bancroft.  When  the  committee 
waited  upon  him  to  escort  him  to  the  Institute,  they  found  him 
dressed  in  a  sleek  and  shining  suit  of  new  black,  creased  and 
wrinkled  from  having  been  packed  too  closely  and  too  long 
in  his  little  valise.  Whether  he  was  more  abashed  by  his  new 
surroundings  or  his  mussed  suit,  it  was  hard  to  tell. 

When  he  reached  the  Institute  he  faced  "the  intellect  and 
culture"  of  the  city,  as  the  Tribune  said,  David  Dudley  Field 
escorting  him  to  the  platform,  where  William  Cullen  Bryant 
presided.  Horace  Greeley,  former  Governor  King,  and  other 
notable  men  sat  beside  him.  For  the  first  few  moments,  as 
he  afterwards  said,  he  was  sure  that  nobody  saw  anything  but 
the  wrinkles  in  his  clothes,  and  his  recalcitrant  coat  collar 
which  flew  up  every  time  he  made  a  gesture.  But  he  soon 
forgot  himself  and  his  address  was,  as  well  in  its  character  as 
in  its  results,  one  of  the  most  important  of  his  career  —  though 
some  still  agree  with  the  orator  himself  that  his  speech  at 
Peoria,  in  1854,  was  his  best.  Owing  to  a  heavy  snow-storm 
the  Cooper  Institute  was  not  full,  and  the  audience  was  so  busy 

1  Life  of  Beecher,  by  J.   H.   Barrows,  pp.   245-6.     After  the  Cooper 
Institute  address  the  following  evening,  Lincoln  was  Beecher 's  candidate 
for  the  Presidency.  —  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  Lyman  Abbott,  p.   222 
(1903).     It  may  be  added  that   the  story,   so   often   told,   that  Lincoln 
spent  a  night  with  Beecher  in  his  home  during  the  dark  days  of  the  war, 
is  a  legend. 

2  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  J.  G.  Holland,  p.  213  (1866). 


2fi8  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

taking  his  measure  that  it  quite  forgot  to  applaud.  Lincoln 
had  foreseen  this,  and  his  address  was  a  calm,  lucid,  searching 
survey  of  the  great  issue  in  all  its  branches,  intended  to  appeal 
to  the  mind  of  educated  man  whose  interest  was  keenly  alive.1 
As  such  it  was  a  model,  thorough  without  affectation  of  learn 
ing,  exact  without  the  usual  stiffness  of  dates  and  details,  often 
compressing  into  a  single  plain  and  simple  sentence  the 
thought  and  research  of  years. 

For  his  text  he  chose  the  words  of  Senator  Douglas :  ' '  Our 
fathers,  when  they  framed  the  government  under  which  we 
live,  understood  this  question  just  as  well,  and  even  better, 
than  we  do  now. ' '  Since  all  indorsed  these  words,  his  inquiry 
was  as  to  what  understanding  the  fathers  had  of  the  slavery 
issue,  how  they  dealt  with  it,  and  what  they  meant  should  be 
the  end  of  it.  Then  followed  an  elaborate  historical  argument, 
which  amounted  to  a  demonstration,  showing  that  the  fathers 
regarded  slavery  as  a  wrong  and  had  placed  it,  as  they  thought, 
in  course  of  ultimate  extinction.  Seldom  has  there  been  a 
more  lucid  exegesis  of  the  Constitution  or  a  more  effective 
application  of  its  principles  and  spirit  to  the  affairs  of  a  later 
time.  Nor  has  there  ever  been  a  more  earnest  exhortation  to 
the  nation  to  return  to  the  landmarks  set  up  by  the  fathers  of 
the  republic. 

Let  all  who  believe  that  "our  fathers  who  framed  the  gov 
ernment  under  which  we  live,  understood  this  question  just 
as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we  do  now,"  speak  as  they 
spoke,  and  act  as  they  acted  upon  it.  This  is  all  Republi 
cans  ask  —  all  Republicans  desire  —  in  relation  to  slavery. 
As  those  fathers  marked  it,  so  let  it  be  again  marked,  as  an 


1  For  the  story  of  this  speech,  and  the  speech  itself  with  valuable 
notes  carefully  edited,  see  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  G.  H.  Putman  (1909). 
Mr.  Horace  White  remarks :  "I  chanced  to  open  the  other  day  his 
Cooper  Institute  speech.  This  is  one  of  the  few  printed  speeches  that 
I  did  not  hear  him  deliver  in  person.  As  I  read  the  concluding  pages  of 
that  speech  the  conflict  of  opinion  that  preceded  the  conflict  of  arms 
then  sweeping  upon  the  country  like  an  approaching  solar  eclipse, 
seemed  prefigured  like  a  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Fate. ' '  —  Lincoln  in 
1854,  pp.  21-22  (1908).  Greeley  said  that  he  never  listened  to  a  greater 
speech,  although  he  had  heard  several  of  Webster's  best. 


LINCOLN'S  HEBNDON 269 

evil  not  to  be  extended,  but  to  be  tolerated  and  protected 
only  because  of  and  so  far  as  its  actual  presence  among  us 
makes  that  toleration  and  protection  a  necessity.  Let  all 
the  guaranties  those  fathers  gave  it,  be,  not  grudgingly,  but 
fully  and  fairly  maintained.  .  .  .  All  they  (the  South) 
ask  we  could  readily  grant,  if  we  thought  slavery  right ;  all 
we  ask  they  could  as  readily  grant,  if  they  thought  it  wrong. 
...  It  is  exceedingly  desirable  that  all  parts  of  this  great 
Confederacy  shall  be  at  peace  and  in  harmony,  one  with 
another.  Let  us  Republicans  do  our  part  to  have  it  so.  Even 
though  much  provoked,  let  us  do  nothing  through  passion 
and  ill  temper.  Even  though  the  Southern  people  will  not 
so  much  as  listen  to  us,  let  us  calmly  consider  their  demands, 
and  yield  to  them,  if,  in  our  deliberate  view  of  our  duty,  we 
possibly  can.  .  .  .  Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes 
might,  and  in  that  faith,  let  us,  to  the  end,  dare  to  do  our 
duty  as  we  understand  it. 

Here  was  the  conciliatory  spirit  of  the  Henry  Clay  Whig,  a 
lover  of  the  Union  willing  to  compromise  everything  except 
the  moral  wrong  of  slavery;  not  the  Abolitionist,  still  less  an 
advocate  of  a  mystical  "higher  law."  As  has  been  true  of  all 
great  reformers,  at  least  in  the  earlier  stages  of  their  careers, 
his  ideals  were  more  frequently  in  the  past  than  in  the  future, 
and  he  made  plea  for  a  pruning  of  gross  abuses,  a  reverting 
to  the  healthy  simplicity  of  by-gone  times.  Like  Shibli  Baga- 
rang  in  the  George  Meredith  story  of  The  Shaving  of  Shag- 
pat  —  published  in  1856  —  he  proposed  a  friendly  and  con 
servative  shave  of  the  Slave  Despot.  True  to  the  nature  of 
tyranny,  the  Slave  Power  waxed  exceeding  angry,  until  its 
face  was  as  red  as  a  berry  in  a  bush ;  but  when  at  last  Shagpat 
had  to  be  thoroughly  and  radically  shaved,  our  Shibli  was 
equal  to  the  task. 

The  New  York  papers  printed  the  speech  in  full,  Bryant, 
of  the  Evening  Post,  expressing  the  wish  that  he  had  more 
material  so  interesting  writh  which  to  fill  his  columns.  The 
Tribune,  as  it  explained,  omitted  only  "the  tones,  the  gestures, 
the  kindling  eye  and  the  mirth-provoking  look"  —which  is 
news,  indeed,  for  in  its  printed  form  there  is  no  glint  of  mirth. 
In  his  speeches  in  New  England,  whither  he  went  to  visit  his 
son  Robert,  then  at  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  he  improvised  at 


270  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

the  moment  on  the  theme  of  the  Cooper  Institute  address, 
with  repeated  emphasis  upon  the  fact  that  John  Brown  was 
not  a  Republican,  but  a  lonely,  misguided  enthusiast.  He  mixed 
a  deal  of  inelegant  anecdote  with  dashes  of  local  color,  espe 
cially  at  Hartford  where  he  was  induced  to  take  sides  in  a 
strike  then  in  progress  in  the  local  shoe  factories;  and  it  was 
like  him  to  take  the  side  of  the  workers.1  On  the  whole,  such 
scraps  as  remain  of  his  speeches  made  on  this  tour  reconcile 
us  to  the  fact  that  they  were  not  reported  in  full. 

But  he  was  now,  in  a  very  real  sense,  a  national  figure.  Men 
were  inquiring  about  him,  and  his  Illinois  friends  urged  him 
to  give  the  word  and  let  them  set  to  work  for  his  nomination 
for  the  Presidency.  "What's  the  use  of  talking  about  me 
whilst  we  have  such  men  as  Seward,  Chase,  and  others?"  he 
said  to  Jesse  Fell,  who  sought  data  for  a  biography.  Finally 
he  admitted  that  he  would  like  to  be  President,  "but  there  is 
no  such  good  luck  in  store  for  me, ' '  he  said.  ' '  Besides,  there 
is  nothing  in  my  early  history  that  would  interest  you  or  any 
body  else."  Fell  pleaded,  and  for  his  benefit  Lincoln  wrote 
that  remarkable  "Autobiography,"  describing  himself  as  de 
rived  from  one  of  the  "second  families,"  and  his  story  as  a 

1  Surely  the  superlative  absurdity  is  the  attempt  to  make  Lincoln 
appear  in  the  guise  of  a  Socialist.  Even  his  prediction  about  the  danger 
to  the  country  from  the  power  of  ' '  corporations ' '  and  capitalists,  rests 
upon  a  hypothetical  letter  which  has  not  been  produced  —  though,  in 
view  of  the  inflated  values  and  wild  extravagance  of  war  times,  he  would 
have  been  justified  in  making  it.  —  Social  and  Industrial  Conditions  Dur 
ing  the  War,  by  E.  D.  Fite  (1910).  Carl  Marx  divined  in  him  a  "single- 
minded  son  of  toil ' '  who,  in  any  contest  between  man  and  dollars, 
would  take  the  side  of  men.  —  Life  of  Marx,  by  J.  Spargo,  p.  225  (1910). 
But  Socialists  have  no  monopoly  of  that  feeling.  Lincoln's  words  about 
the  rights  of  property,  and  capital,  make  ridiculous  the  effort  of  that 
cult  to  claim  him.  He  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  no  slave  would 
return  to  unrequited  toil,  and  each  family  would  own  its  own  home 
stead,  subject  to  no  lien,  except  taxes.  —  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  E.  H. 
Browne,  Vol.  II,  p.  638  (1907).  His  vigorous  individualism  was,  how 
ever,  always  balanced  by  a  feeling  of  human  solidarity,  and  both  were 
transfigured  by  that  social  imagina'tion,  so  marked  a  trait  in  him,  out  of 
which  was  born  his  mystical  and  prophetic  vision  of  the  union.  —  Abraham 
Lincoln,  by  H.  B.  Binns,  pp.  144,  352  (1907). 


LINCOLN'S  HERNDON 271 

page  torn  from  "the  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor." 
At  last,  urged  by  his  friends  —  Davis,  Swett,  Logan,  Palmer, 
Herndon,  and  others  —  he  let  his  name  be  used  for  the  highest 
office,  and  was  quietly  occupied  during  the  spring  with  that 
wire-pulling  at  which  he  was  so  adept.  Once  in  the  race,  he 
was  as  vigilant  as  he  had  been  reluctant,  and  left  no  stone 
unturned,  even  writing  to  other  States  in  quest  of  delegates.1 
He  went,  as  a  spectator,  to  the  State  convention  at  Decatur  on 
May  9th,  and  was  given  a  rousing  indorsement.  When  a  ban 
ner  was  borne  in,  inscribed  "Abraham  Lincoln,  the  rail  Can 
didate  for  President  in  1860,"  supported  by  two  weather- 
beaten  fence  rails  decorated  with  ribbons,  "from  a  lot  of  3,000 
made  by  Abraham  Lincoln  and  John  Hanks  in  the  Sangamon 
Bottom,  in  the  year  1830,"  the  convention  went  wild.  Of 
course,  Lincoln  had  to  make  a  speech,  and  the  State  delega 
tion,  the  list  of  names  having  been  approved  by  him,  was 
instructed  to  "use  all  honorable  means"  to  secure  him  the 
honor. 

One  week  later  the  National  Convention  met  at  Chicago,  in  a 
large  two-story  frame  building,  called,  without  apparent  reason 
or  propriety,  the  "Wigwam,"  erected  for  the  purpose  at  the 
corner  of  Market  and  Lake  streets.  This  was  the  first  time 
any  great  party  had  convened  its  national  assembly  in  the 
West,  and  it  was  a  notable  gathering.  Even  the  Times,  the 
Douglas  organ,  complimented  a  body  which  contained  such 
men  as  Evarts,  Thurlow  Weed,  Greeley,  Giddings,  Ashmun, 

i  Among  those  to  •whom  he  wrote  was  the  notorious  Mark  Delahay 
of  Kansas,  offering  to  furnish  $100  to  bear  his  expenses  to  Chicago  in 
case  he  was  appointed  a  delegate.  These  letters  were  given  in  the 
Herndon  and  Weik  biography  (Vol.  II,  pp.  68-9),  but  the  name  of 
Delahay  was  omitted.  Years  later  Senator  Ingalls  refused  to  believe 
that  Lincoln  had  any  dealings  with  Delahay  until  he  saw  the  actual 
letters,  and  even  then  he  could  hardly  believe  his  eyes.  After  he  was 
elected  Lincoln  consulted  Delahay  about  appointments  in  Kansas,  ap 
pointing  Delahay  himself  Surveyor-General.  —  Life  of  John  Brown,  by 
F.  B.  Sanborn,  p.  184  (1910).  Lincoln  was  not  squeamish  in  such  mat 
ters,  nor  was  he  always  a  good  judge  of  men.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  he  did  not  know  what  manner  of  man  Delahay  was,  for  he  had  no 
ear  for  local  political  gossip. 


272  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Wilmot,  Corwin,  Blair,  Andrews,  Boutwell,  and  others  of 
equal  fame.  In  these  despites,  it  was  soon  evident  that  there 
would  be  the  usual  display  of  electioneering  arts,  the  usual 
bargaining,  and  more  than  the  usual  uproar.1  Seward  was 
the  most  eminent  man  of  the  party  and  its  natural  candidate, 
and  his  friends,  led  by  the  astute  and  experienced  Thurlow 
Weed,  seemed  to  have  everything  their  own  way.  Lincoln  had 
only  the  support  of  Illinois,  and  even  some  of  the  Illinois  dele 
gation  personally  preferred  Seward ; 2  but  he  had  a  chance  if 
Seward  did  not  win  on  the  first  ballot. 

Lincoln  headquarters  were  at  the  Tremont  House,  five  blocks 
from  the  Wigwam,  and  his  friends  worked  "like  nailers," 
as  Oglesby  said.  David  Davis,  Stephen  T.  Logan,  Leonard 
Swett,  Norman  Judd,  Jesse  K.  Dubois  were  leaders,  with  W. 
H.  Herndon  as  the  personal  representative  of  his  partner. 
They  opened  a  political  huckster  shop  and  began  to  dicker  for 
votes,  having  the  aid  of  Greeley,  who  was  in  favor  of  ' '  anybody 
to  beat  Seward,"  and  he  thought  Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri, 
was  the  man  to  do  it.  Herndon  and  Koerner  did  much  to 
argue  him  out  of  that  notion  in  favor  of  Lincoln.  By  dextrous 
trades  and  promises  the  Lincoln  men  secured  the  Indiana 
delegation,  while  the  Seward  forces  were  parading  with  ban 
ners  and  bands.  Dubois  telegraphed  to  Lincoln  that  they 
could  get  the  Cameron  delegates  from  Pennsylvania  if  they 
might  promise  Cameron  a  cabinet  position.  Lincoln  replied : 
"I  authorize  no  bargains  and  will  be  bound  by  none."  Not 
content  with  this,  he  sent  a  copy  of  the  Missouri  Democrat  to 

1  There   are   many   descriptions    of    the    Chicago    convention.     For   a 
contemporary  account,  see  Conventions  of  1860,  by  Murat  Halstead;  for 
the  workings  of  the  platform  committee,  see  Reminiscences,  by  Schurz, 
Vol.  II,  pp.   175-86   (1909);   for  the  German  influence,  see  Memoirs  of 
Koerner,  Vol.   II,   pp.   84-93    (1909)  ;    for  the   causes   of   the   defeat   of 
Seward,  see  Autobiography  of  Weed  (1884),  and  Life  of  Seward,  by  F. 
Bancroft,   Vol.   I,   pp.   520-45    (1900)  ;    and   the  biographies  of   Lincoln, 
especially  Arnold  and  Whitney  who  were  present.     Seward  men   attrib 
uted  their  downfall  to  Greeley,  who  had  a  grudge  against  their  candi 
date,  but  Greeley  said  that  his  influence  was  exaggerated.  —  Ee collections 
of  a  Busy  Life,  p.  390  (1869). 

2  Lincoln,  and  Men  of  War  Times,  by  A.  K.  McClure,  p.  23. 


LINCOLN'S  HEBNDON 273 

Herndon  with  three  extracts  from  Seward's  speeches  marked, 
and  on  the  margin  of  which  he  had  written,  "I  agree  with 
Seward's  'irrepressible  conflict,'  but  do  not  agree  with  his 
'higher  law'  doctrine.  Make  no  contracts  that  will  bind  me." 

Everybody  was  mad,  of  course.  .  .  .  What  was  to  be  done  ? 
The  bluff  Dubois  said:  "Damn  Lincoln!"  The  polished 
Swett  said,  in  mellifluous  accents :  "I  am  very  sure  if  Lin 
coln  was  aware  of  the  necessities — "  The  critical  Logan 
expectorated  viciously,  and  said,  "The  main  difficulty  with 
Lincoln  is—  Herndon  ventured:  "Now,  friend,  I'll 
answer  that."  But  Davis  cut  the  Gordian  knot  by  brush 
ing  all  aside  with:  "Lincoln  ain't  here,  and  don't  know 
what  we  have  to  meet,  so  we  will  go  ahead,  as  if  we  hadn't 
heard  from  him,  and  he  must  ratify  it."  The  Cameron 
contingent  was  secured  for  Lincoln  on  the  second  vote.1 

On  the  third  day,  when  the  balloting  was  to  take  place,  while 
the  Seward  men  were  parading  the  Lincoln  men  filled  up  the 
Wigwam,  and  their  rivals  had  hard  work  to  get  in.  Two  men 
with  voices  like  fog-horns,  hired  for  service,  had  been  placed 
at  strategic  points,  instructed  to  yell  for  Lincoln  when  B.  C. 
Cook,  who  sat  on  the  platform,  took  his  handkerchief  from 
his  pocket.  Evarts  nominated  Seward,  and  there  was  loud 
and  prolonged  cheering.  But  when  Norman  Judd  named  Lin 
coln  there  went  such  a  series  of  yells  as  had  never  been  heard 
before,  low  rates  on  the  railroads  having  brought  thousands  of 
men  from  all  over  the  State  to  the  city  for  that  specific  pur 
pose.  The  Seward  howlers,  led  by  Tom  Hyer  the  pugilist, 
were  dismayed.  Several  States  nominated  ' '  favorite  sons ' '  — 
Dayton  of  New  Jersey,  Cameron  of  Pennsylvania,  Chase  of 
Ohio,  Bates  of  Missouri,  Collamer  of  Vermont,  McLean  of 
Ohio  —  but  the  real  contest  was  between  Seward  and  Lincoln. 
On  the  first  ballot  the  vote  stood,  Seward  1731/0,  Lincoln  102. 
Thousands  of  men  were  keeping  count,  and  on  the  second 
ballot  the  votes  of  Cameron  came  to  Lincoln  by  agreement, 
which  with  other  changes  made  the  result,  Seward  184 1/2,  Lin 
coln  181.  The  third  ballot  gave  Lincoln  231 1/2,  which  brought 
him  within  one  and  a  half  votes  of  the  nomination.  Where- 
i  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  W.  C.  Whitney,  p.  289  (1907). 


274 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

upon  David  Cartter  changed  four  votes  from  Chase  to  Lincoln, 
and  he  was  the  nominee.  Evarts,  of  New  York,  moved  to  make 
it  unanimous,  and  the  brass  cannon  on  the  roof  of  the  Wigwam 
thundered  the  salute  which  set  the  city  wild  with  joy.  After 
naming  Hannibal  Hamlin  for  second  place,  the  convention 
adjourned,  and  at  every  station  as  the  delegates  went  home 
there  were  tar  barrels  burning,  boys  carrying  rails,  and  guns, 
great  and  small,  banging  away.1 

Lincoln  had  played  ball  most  of  the  day,  perhaps  to  work 
off  the  intense  excitement  that  possessed  him.  Early  in  the 
afternoon  he  went  to  the  telegraph  office  to  await  the  outcome 
of  the  first  ballot.  It  was  evident  that  he  was  encouraged  by 
the  result.  Soon  news  of  the  second  ballot  arrived,  and  he 
showed  by  his  manner  that  he  regarded  the  contest  as  won. 
He  went  with  Charles  Zane  to  the  Journal  office,  and  it  was 
there  that  he  received  the  final  news  of  his  high  call,  with  a 
calmness  not  untouched  with  sadness.  Looking  at  the  tele 
gram  a  moment,  he  said,  ''There  is  a  little  woman  down  on 
Eighth  street  who  will  be  glad  to  hear  this  news,"  and  strode 
away  to  tell  her.  In  Washington  Douglas  was  saying,  "There 
won 't  be  a  tar  barrel  left  in  Illinois  tonight ! ' ' 


As  for  the  Democracy,  it  was  now  "a  house  divided  against 
itself,"  built  apparently  upon  sand  and  tottering  to  a  fall. 
The  Southern  wing  nominated  John  C.  Breckenridge,  of  Ken 
tucky,  on  a  radical  pro-slavery  platform,  while  the  Northern 
wing  named  Douglas,  on  a  platform  of  "popular  sovereignty" 
—  thus  fulfilling  the  prediction  of  Lincoln,  that  the  Senator 
would  have  "the  pill  of  sectionalism  crowded  down  his  own 
throat."  As  if  to  make  confusion  worse  confounded,  John 
Bell,  of  Tennessee,  and  Edward  Everett,  of  Massachusetts  — 
the  "Kangaroo  Ticket,"  as  it  was  called,  because  the  "hind 
legs  were  the  longest"  —  were  put  forward  by  a  class  of  gen 
tlemen  some  of  whom  thought  slavery  was  right,  and  others  of 
whom  thought  it  wrong,  but  all  agreeing  that  the  trouble  came 
1  Conventions  of  1860,  by  Murat  Halstead,  p.  154. 


LINCOLN'S  HEBNDON 275 

of  talking  so  much  about  it.  So  they  presented  a  policy  of 
"keep  still  and  do  nothing,"  anticipating  an  opinion  held 
even  in  our  day  "that  quite  as  much  harm  may  be  done  by 
preaching  the  ten  commandments  as  by  violating  them. ' ' x 

Notable  was  the  tour  of  Senator  Seward,  despite  his  profound 
grief  at  losing  the  high  prize,  which  has  broken  so  many 
hearts.2  His  speeches  in  the  "West,  which  he  had  not  visited 
since  he  became  famous,  were  gems  of  eloquence  and  tact, 
remarkable  in  that,  while  dealing  with  one  theme,  they  ex 
hibited  a  kaleidoscopic  variety  of  arrangement  and  phrase. 
His  journey  was  one  prolonged  ovation.  Equally  notable  was 
the  canvass  of  Senator  Douglas,  who  was  the  first  man  seeking 
that  high  office  to  take  the  stump  in  his  own  behalf.  To  many 
it  was  a  humiliating  spectacle,  but  his  vigor,  spirit,  and  elo 
quence  disarmed  critics,  and  he  spoke  in  most  of  the  free,  and 
in  many  of  the  Slave  States,  striking  at  Breckenridge  on  one 
side  and  Lincoln  on  the  other,  as  representing  sectionalism, 
while  he  assumed  that  he  carried  the  banner  of  the  Union. 
The  "Wide  Awakes,"  with  their  caps  and  oil-cloth  capes  and 
torch  lights,  marched  to  huge  rallies,  where  wagon  loads  of 
decorated  rails  were  the  symbols  of  a  man  whose  life-story 
appealed  to  the  imagination  of  the  nation.  Yet  below  the 
noise  and  glare  of  the  hour  there  was  a  solemn  undertone 
of  serious  thought,  of  earnest  questioning,  of  mingled  hope  and 
dread,  as  befitted  a  nation  on  the  verge  of  a  great  ordeal. 
Herndon  was  active  on  the  stump,  and  while  speaking  one  day 
in  October  he  received  a  note  from  his  partner,  written  in  a 
tremulous  hand,  informing  him  that  Pennsylvania,  Indiana, 
and  Ohio  were  safe.  He  read  it  to  the  crowd,  and  so  great 
was  the  joy  that  the  speech  was  never  finished. 

With  a  divided  opposition,  the  election  of  Lincoln  was  al 
most  a  foregone  conclusion,  but  by  a  sectional  vote.  He  car 
ried  every  Northern  State  except  New  Jersey,  where  Douglas 
had  tried  the  trick  of  fusion  and  won  three  of  its  electoral 
votes.  Of  the  total  electoral  vote  of  303,  Lincoln  received  180, 

1  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  F.  W.  Lehmann,  p.  20   (1908). 

2  Life  of  Seward,  by  F.  Bancroft,  Vol.  I,  pp.   545-50   (1900). 


276 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

which  gave  him  a  majority  of  57  over  all  his  opponents. 
Douglas  got  only  seven,  three  from  New  Jersey  and  four  from 
Missouri.  Bell  carried  the  States  of  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and 
Kentucky,  with  39  votes,  and  Breckenridge  all  the  Southern 
States  and  the  border  States  of  D^aware  and  Maryland,  giv 
ing  him  72  votes.  The  total  popular  vote,  except  South  Caro 
lina,  whose  electors  were  chosen  by  the  Legislature,  was 
4,680,193.  Of  these  Lincoln  received  1,866,452;  Douglas, 
1,375,157;  Breckenridge,  847,953,  which,  with  the  vote  of 
South  Carolina  was  increased  to  900,000 ;  and  Bell  had  590,631. 
So  that  Douglas,  who  was  second  before  the  people,  was  lowest 
in  the  electoral  college.  Lincoln  won  over  26,000  votes  in  the 
border  States,  but  not  a  single  ballot  in  the  South,  and  he 
failed  by  474,000  of  getting  a  majority  of  the  popular  vote. 
An  ominous  result;  a  divided  North,  with  a  majority  {.gainst 
slavery,  against  a  practically  united  South  in  favor  of  slavery. 
During  the  campaign  Lincoln  remained  quietly  in  Spring 
field,  where  the  Governor's  rooms  in  the  State  House  were 
placed  at  his  disposal,  and  there  he  met  his1  callers,  talked  and 
joked,  while  preserving  a  sphinx-like  silence.  Wary  and  dis 
creet,  he  wrote  very  little,  and  when  embarrassing  questions 
were  asked  he  told  a  story  or  had  his  secretary,  John  G.  Nico- 
lay,  make  a  stereotyped  reply,  referring  to  his  record  and  his 
speeches.  "If  they  will  not  hear  Moses  and  the  prophets," 
he  wrote  to  William  Speer,  "neither  will  they  be  persuaded 
though  one  rose  from  the  dead."  Some  of  the  abuse  heaped 
upon  him  gave  him  pain,  for  it  was  bitter  to  the  point  of 
brutality,  especially  in  the  Southern  papers.  Perhaps  nothing 
gave  him  more  sorrow  than  the  attitude  of  the  Springfield 
preachers :  for  of  the  twenty-three  in  town,  twenty  were  against 
him.1  ' '  These  men  well  know, ' '  he  said,  ' '  that  I  am  for  free 
dom,  and  yet  with  this  book ' '  —  the  New  Testament  —  "in 
their  hands,  in  the  light  of  which  human  bondage  cannot  live 
a  moment,  they  are  going  to  vote  against  me.  I  do  not  under 
stand  it  at  all." 

No  sooner  had  the  vote  been  cast  than  Springfield  became  a 
i  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  J.  G.  Holland,  pp.  236-39  (1866). 


LINCOLN'S  HEBNDQN 277 

mecca  for  newspaper  men,  would-be  biographers,  and  a  horde 
of  hungry  office-seekers.  The  number  of  "original  Lincoln 
men"  became  a  multitude,  giving  their  idol  a  foretaste  of 
what  he  had  to  expect.  Gentlemen  with  light  baggage  and 
heavy  schemes  came  in  deputations  and  delegations  from  all 
quarters  and  the  hotels  were  jammed.  Lincoln  and  Art-emus 
Ward  saw  no  end  of  fun  in  this  motley  procession,  and  it  was 
the  fun  that  saved  him.  For,  with  the  government  in  weak, 
if  not  hostile  hands,  and  threatening  chaos  in  the  South,  where 
anger  flashed  like  lightning,  this  time  of  waiting  was  trying 
in  the  extreme.1  He  was  busy  at  cabinet  making  betimes, 
which  was  no  easy  task  in  view  of  the  material  with  which  he 
had  to  work.  Often  he  would  escape  from  the  crowd  and  drop 
into  the  old  office  and  have  a  chat  with  Herndon,  and  talk  over 
affairs  of  business  and  state.  He  asked  his  partner  to  furnish 
some  books  to  be  used  in  writing  his  inaugural  address  —  the 
speech  of  Henry  Clay  in  1850,  the  proclamation  of  Jackson 
against  Nullification,  and  a  copy  of  the  Constitution ;  and  later, 
Webster's  reply  to  Hayne,  which  he  regarded  as  the  master 
piece  of  American  eloquence.  With  these  he  retired  to  a 
dingy  back  room  across  from  the  State  House,  and  wrote  that 
address  in  which  firmness  blended  with  a  half-sad  gentleness. 
Old  New  Salem  friends  called  to  see  him,  and  more  than  one 
brought  up  the  memory  of  Ann  Rutledge  whose  image  he  still 
kept  in  his  heart,  wrapped  in  the  sweet  and  awful  sadness  of 
the  valley  of  shadows.  He  slipped  away  to  visit  the  grave  of 
his  father,  and  rode  to  Farmington,  in  Coles  County,  to  see  his 
aged  step-mother  who  was  still  living.  Amid  such  scenes  of 
farewell,  and  the  kindly  greetings  of  old  and  dear  friends,  a 

1  An  incident  of  these  trying  days  was  an  exchange  of  letters  with 
Alexander  Stephens,  of  Georgia.  Stephens  had  made  a  speech  before 
the  Legislature  of  his  State  in  favor  of  the  Union,  and  Lincoln  sent  for 
a  copy  of  it.  Stephens  sent  the  address,  and  with  it  a  friendly  letter 
reminding  Lincoln  of  his  solemn  responsibility  in  time  of  peril.  To  which 
Lincoln  replied,  ' '  for  your  eye  only, ' '  asking  if  the  people  of  the  South 
really  thought  that  he  had  any  inclination  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the 
States.  Stephens  respected  the  confidence  until  after  the  death  of  his 
friend.  —  Life  of  Stephens,  by  L.  Pendleton,  pp.  165-6  (1907).  Also, 
Constitutional  View  of  the  War,  by  Stephens,  Vol.  IT,  p.  266  (1870). 


278  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

gloom  as  of  the  grave  overshadowed,  reviving  the  premonition, 
of  which  he  had  talked  to  Herndon  as  early  as  1843,  that  some 
violent  end  was  to  overtake  him  at  last.  The  last  afternoon 
before  he  left  for  Washington  was  spent  with  Herndon  in  the 
office,  in  which  they  had  toiled,  and  planned,  and  dreamed 
together.  He  locked  the  door,  and  after  going  over  the  cases, 
concerning  which  he  had  certain  requests  to  make,  and  a  few 
suggestions  as  to  methods  of  procedure,  they  talked  as  old 
comrades.  Lincoln  asked  his  partner  if  he  wanted  any  office, 
and,  if  so,  to  name  it.  Herndon  wanted  no  office,  except  that 
of  bank  examiner  which  he  then  held,  and  Lincoln  said  he 
would  speak  to  Richard  Yates,  the  incoming  Governor,  in  his 
behalf.  Mr.  Herndon  writes : x 

After  these  were  all  disposed  of  he  crossed  to  the  opposite 
side  of  the  room  and  threw  himself  down  on  the  old  office 
sofa,  which,  after  many  years  of  service,  had  been  moved 
against  the  wall  for  support.  He  lay  for  a  few  moments, 
his  face  toward  the  ceiling,  without  either  of  us  speaking. 
Presently  he  inquired,  "Billy"  -he  always  called  me  by 
that  name  —  "how  long  have  we  been  together?"  "Over 
sixteen  years,"  I  answered.  "We've  never  had  a  cross 
word  during  all  that  time,  have  we?"  to  which  I  returned 
a  vehement,  ' '  No,  indeed  we  have  not. ' '  He  then  recalled 
some  of  the  incidents  of  his  early  practice  and  took  great 
pleasure  in  delineating  the  ludicrous  features  of  many  a 
law  suit  on  the  circuit.  It  was  at  this  last  interview  in 
Springfield  that  he  told  me  of  the  efforts  that  had  been 
made  by  other  lawyers  to  supplant  me  in  the  partnership 
with  him.  He  insisted  that  such  men  were  weak  creatures, 
who,  to  use  his  own  language,  ' '  hoped  to  secure  a  law  prac 
tice  by  hanging  to  his  coat-tail."  I  .never  saw  him  in  a 
more  cheerful  mood.  He  gathered  up  a  bundle  of  books 
and  papers  he  wished  to  take  with  him  and  started  to  go; 
but  before  leaving  he  made  the  strange  request  that  the 
sign-board  which  swung  on  its  rusty  hinges  at  the  foot  of 
the  stairway  should  remain.  "Let  it  hang  there  undis 
turbed,"  he  said,  with  a  significant  lowering  of  his  voice. 
"Give  our  clients  to  understand  that  the  election  of  a  Pres 
ident  makes  no  change  in  the  firm  of  Lincoln  &  Herndon. 
If  I  live  I'm  coming  back  some  time,  and  then  we'll  go 


1  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  II,  pp.  193-5. 


LINCOLN'S  HEBNDON 279 

right  on  practicing  law  as  if  nothing  had  ever  happened. ' ' 
He  lingered  a  moment  as  if  to  take  a  last  look  at  the  old 
quarters,  and  then  passed  through  the  door  into  the  narrow 
hallway.  I  accompanied  him  downstairs.  .  .  .  Grasping 
my  hand  warmly  and  with  a  fervent ' '  Good-bye, ' '  he  disap 
peared  down  the  street,  and  never  came  back  to  the  office 
again. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Later  Herndon 


It  is  not  designed  to  give  a  detailed  account  of  the  life  of  Mr. 
Herndon,  but  only  such  part  of  it  as  had  to  do  with  his  great 
partner  and  friend.  So  much  of  his  time,  however,  was  spent 
first  in  clearing  away  misunderstandings  of  Lincoln  before 
he  entered  office  and  afterward,  and  later  in  gathering  and 
recording  facts  for  a  just  and  true  appraisement  of  him,  that 
the  record  is  unusually  rich.  The  story  has  thus  a  double 
interest  and  value,  not  more  for  its  disclosure  of  interesting 
items  about  Lincoln  than  for  its  revelation  of  the  same  loyal 
and  self-effacing  friend,  doing  what  he  could  to  uphold  the 
hands  of  his  partner  while  living  and  standing  guard  over  his 
memory  after  death.  Such  a  task  was  a  boon  in  those  lonely 
later  years,  when  he  needed  something  to  divert  attention  from 
the  going  down  of  the  sun. 

Hardly  had  the  result  of  the  election  been  announced  than 
Herndon  began  a  labor  which,  though  unobtrusive  and  nat 
ural,  entitles  him  to  our  grateful  regard.  Lincoln,  it  should 
be  remembered,  had  never  held  an  executive  office,  and  no  one 
knew  what  powers  he  had  for  such  an  untried  service.  His 
ideas  were  well  known,  and  his  personality  had  become  some 
what  familiar  through  the  press,  especially  in  the  admirable 
sketches  of  him  by  Scripps  and  Howells ;  but  his  capacity  for 
executive  leadership  no  one  knew  —  not  even  Lincoln  himself. 
Even  in  ordinary  times  there  would  have  been  some  curiosity 
as  to  what  so  inexperienced  a  man  would  do,  and  in  view  of 
the  startling  events  which  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  election, 
it  was  natural  that  this  curiosity  should  deepen  into  a  pro 
found  anxiety.  Not  only  a  new  man,  but  a  new  party  was 
coming  into  power,  and  the  national  sky  was  dark  and  angry. 


281 


During  the  campaign,  party  interests  as  well  as  manly  im 
pulse  had  led  the  Republicans  to  belittle  the  Southern  threats 
of  disunion.  There  had  been  such  threats  before,  and  it  suited 
their  purpose  now  to  regard  them  as  so  much  braggadocio  in 
dulged  in  for  political  effect.  Lowell  called  the  talk  of  se 
cession  a  ' '  Mumbo- Jumbo ' '  that  might  frighten  old  women  but 
that  did  not  disturb  the  stock-market.  Greeley  declared  that 
the  South  could  no  more  unite  upon  such  a  wild  scheme  than 
a  company  of  lunatics  could  conspire  to  break  out  of  bedlam ; 
while  W.  T.  Sherman,  who  was  a  shrewd  observer  and,  in  1860, 
a  resident  of  Louisiana,  advised  his  brother  to  ' '  bear  the  buf 
fets  of  a  sinking  dynasty,  and  even  smile  at  their  impotent 
threats. ' ' l  Douglas,  it  was  thought,  had  exaggerated  the  per 
ils  of  electing  Lincoln,  whose  victory  he  foresaw  from  the  first. 
Small  wonder,  then,  that  a  pall  fell  over  the  North  when  one 
after  another  of  the  Slave  States  went  out  of  the  Union,  and 
hoisted  alien  flags.  Secession  swept  the  South,  not  without 
violence  used  to  crush  hesitation  and  dissent,  for  the  revolution 
was  the  work  of  a  minority,  as  revolutions  usually  are.  As 
the  plot  thickened,  many  who  had  helped  to  manoeuvre  the 
rail-splitter  into  office  began  to  wonder  whether,  after  all,  he 
was  the  man  for  such  an  hour. 

From  far  and  near  letters  began  to  pour  in  upon  Herndon, 
as  the  man  who  knew  Lincoln  better  than  any  one  else,  asking 
what  manner  of  man  his  partner  was.  Lincoln's  task  was  one 
that  might  easily  bewilder  and  appall:  before  him  was  dis 
union  ;  behind  him  were  fear  and  fainting  hearts ;  around  him 
was  treachery.  But  Herndon  knew  that,  whatever  his  skill  in 
executive  art,  he  had  the  qualities  most  in  request  for  the 
hour  —  unbending  firmness  and  loyalty  to  principle,  unshak 
able  courage,  unwavering  integrity,  and  a  caressing  human 
sympathy.  His  letter  in  reply  to  Senator  Henry  Wilson  is 
typical  of  many  that  he  wrote  during  those  awful  days  of  sus 
pense,  remarkable  at  once  for  its  insight,  its  analysis,  and  for 
its  faith  in  his  partner: 

i  Life  of  Seirard,  by  F.  Bancroft,  Vol.  I,  pp.  551-2   (1900). 


282 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Springfield,  111.,  Dec.  21,  1860. 
Hon.  Henry  Wilson. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  know  Lincoln  better  than  he  knows  him 
self.  I  know  this  seems  a  little  strong,  but  I  risk  the  asser 
tion.  Lincoln  is  a  man  of  heart  —  aye,  as  gentle  as  a  wom 
an  's  and  as  tender  —  but  he  has  a  will  strong  as  iron.  He 
therefore  loves  all  mankind,  hates  slavery  and  every  form 
of  despotism.  Put  these  together  —  love  for  the  slave,  and 
a  determination,  a  will,  that  justice,  strong  and  unyielding, 
shall  be  done  when  he  has  the  right  to  act  —  and  you  can 
form  your  own  conclusion.  Lincoln  will  fail  here,  namely, 
if  a  question  of  political  economy  —  if  any  question  comes 
up  which  is  doubtful,  questionable,  which  no  man  can  dem 
onstrate,  then  his  friends  can  rule  him :  but  when  on  Justice, 
Right,  Liberty,  the  Government,  the  Constitution,  and  the 
Union,  then  you  may  all  stand  aside :  he  will  rule  then,  and 
no  man  can  move  him  —  no  set  of  men  can  do  it.  There  is 
no  failure  here.  This  is  Lincoln,  and  you  mark  my  pre 
diction.  Ton  and  I  must  keep  the  people  right;  God  will 
keep  Lincoln  right!  Yours  truly,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

"Wilson  still  had  his  doubts,  but  years  later  he  wrote  to  Herndon 
admitting  that  his  prediction  had  come  true  to  the  letter.  Lin 
coln  at  that  moment  was  being  tested  to  the  supreme  degree,  by 
his  own  party.  Congress,  finding  disunion  a  fact,  fell  upon 
its  knees,  and  offered  the  slave  owners  boundless  concessions. 
It  was  ready  to  give  slavery  new  guarantees  of  extension,  to 
make  the  fugitive  slave  law  more  severe,  to  extend  the  Missouri 
Compromise  line  to  the  Pacific,  to  admit  New  Mexico  with  a 
slave  code,  and  even  to  place  slavery  beyond  the  reach  of  con 
stitutional  amendment  —  thus  making  it,  so  far  as  law  could 
make  it,  eternal.  Such  a  resolution  passed  both  houses  of  Con 
gress.  As  Mr.  Blaine  remarks,  it  would  "have  entrenched 
slavery  securely  in  the  organic  law  of  the  land. ' ' x  Compro 
mise  was  the  order  of  the  day,  and  even  Seward  seemed  to 
tremble  in  silence.  The  Crittenden  plan  would  have  cut  off 
the  head  of  the  Republican  party,  and  yet  such  papers  as  the 
Albany  Journal  and  the  New  York  Times  "began  to  perform 
the  famous  feat  of  St.  Denys,  walking  and  also  talking  with  sev- 
i  Twenty  Tears  of  Congress,  Vol.  I,  pp.  258-274  (1884). 


THE  LATER  HERNDON 283 

ered  head  held  in  the  hand. ' ' x  Lincoln  had  advocated  compro 
mise  in  years  gone  by,  and  had  been  almost  the  last  man  to  give 
it  up,  but  now  he  would  have  none  of  it.  His  letters  during  this 
ordeal  show  what  granitic  firmness  was  in  the  man : 

To  Kellogg  he  wrote :  Entertain  no  proposition  for  a  com 
promise  in  regard  to  the  extension  of  slavery.  The  instant 
you  do,  they  have  us  under  again ;  all  our  labor  is  lost,  and 
sooner  or  later  must  be  done  over.  The  tug  has  come,  and 
better  now  than  later. 

To  E.  B.  Washburne :  Prevent,  as  far  as  possible,  any  of 
our  friends  from  demoralizing  themselves  and  our  cause  by 
entertaining  propositions  for  compromise  of  any  sort  on 
slavery  extension.  There  is  no  possible  compromise  upon  it 
but  which  puts  us  under  again,  and  leaves  all  our  work  to  be 
done  over  again. 

To  J.  P.  Hale :  If  we  surrender,  it  is  the  end  of  us  and 
of  the  government.  They  will  repeat  the  experiment  upon 
us  ad  libitum.  A  year  will  not  pass  till  we  shall  have  to 
take  Cuba  as  a  condition  upon  which  they  will  stay  in  the 
Union. 

This  was  the  last  desperate  effort  of  the  Slave  Power  to  threat 
en,  cozen,  and  bribe  both  the  friends  of  the  Union  and  the  en 
emies  of  slavery;  but  Lincoln  stood  like  a  rock.  What  Hern- 
don  feared  was  that,  at  the  very  last,  the  standard  of  the  party, 
which  he  had  fought  to  hold  aloft,  would  be  lowered  by  ig 
nominious  cowardice,  and  that  Lincoln  would  have  his  hands 
tied  when  he  entered  office.  The  very  thought  of  it  made  his 
heart  quiver  with  indignation  and  fear.  Hence  his  letter  to 
Senator  Trumbull,  breathing  intense  feeling,  while  expressing 
his  contempt  for  the  office-seekers  who  besieged  him  for  notes 
of  recommendation : 2 


1  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  D.  J.  Snider,  p.  480  (1908). 

2  This  letter  is  part  of  a  long  correspondence  between  Mr.  Herndon 
and  Senator  Trumbull  —  for  they  were  intimate  friends  —  beginning  in 
3856  and  continuing  until  1866,  which,  by  the  kindness  of  Messrs.  Horace 
White  and  J.  W.  Weik,  is  now  in  my  possession.     It  resembles  the  cor 
respondence  with  Parker,  dealing  with  the  same  ideas  and  scenes,  but 
less  elaborately,  as  it  was  unnecessary  to  describe  the  situations  to  Sen 
ator  Trumbull.     The  letters  have  the  same  vividness  and  animation,  but 
are   lees   valuable   as   pictures   of   the   period.     It   seems,   however,   that 


284 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Springfield,  111.,  Feb.  9,  1861. 
Friend  Trumbull. 

Dear  Sir :  —  I  want  to  say  one  or  two  words  to  you.  I 
am  bothered  to  death  to  sign  petitions,  applications,  suppli 
cations  for  office  by  greedy,  hungry,  ravenous  office-seekers 
who,  many  of  them,  were  never  known  to  the  Republicans 
till  now.  I  am  forced  to  give  some  kind  of  letters,  etc.,  but 
let  me  say  to  you,  that  all  they  are  intended  for  is  simply 
politeness  and  not  recommendations.  Be  not  governed  by 
anything  which  I  may  say  by  way  of  simple  politeness.  If 
I  really  want  a  man  appointed  I  will  say  it  out  and  out.  I 
have  signed  no  petitions  as  yet  —  except  Bunn  's  and  —  I 
forget  the  other.  Keep  what  I  say  in  mind. 

Are  our  Republican  friends  going  to  concede  away  dig 
nity,  Constitution,  Union,  Laws,  and  Justice?  If  they  do 
I  am  their  enemy  —  now  and  forever.  I  may  not  have  much 
influence,  but  I  will  help  to  tear  down  your  Republican  party 
and  erect  another  in  its  stead.  Before  I  would  buy  the 
South  by  compromises  and  concessions  to  get  what  is  the 
people's  due  I  would  die  —  rot  and  be  forgotten  willingly. 
Let  me  say  to  you  that  if  the  Republicans  do  concede  any 
thing  more  than  the  South  has  already  got  —  namely,  her 
constitutional  rights  —  the  Republican  party  may  consider 
death  as  the  law.  Your  friend,  W.  H.  HERNDON. 

When  Lincoln  at  last  grasped  the  reins  of  State  with  his  power 
ful  hands,  Herndon  breathed  easily,  knowing,  as  he  said  in  his 
vivid  way,  that ' '  the  '  gates  of  hell  cannot  prevail '  to  make  him 
lower  either  the  flag  or  the  ideal."  He  took  up  his  business 
affairs  with  new  heart,  assured  that  with  such  a  pilot  the  ship 
was  safe,  whatever  storms  might  roar.  Shortly  after  the  in 
auguration  he  visited  Washington  — ' '  to  see  how  Lincoln  looked 
in  the  White  House"1 — and  found  the  President  furrowed 
and  worn  with  care.  One  sentence  of  Lincoln's  he  recalled: 
"Billy,  I  hope  there  will  be  no  trouble;  but  I  will  make  the 

Trumbull  once  believed  that  Douglas  intended  to  become  a  Kepublican, 
but  was  soon  disillusioned  of  his  belief. 

i  The  first  Mrs.  Herndon  died  in  August,  1860,  and  one  year  later 
Mr.  Herndon  married  Miss  Anna  Miles.  While  paying  addresses  to  her 
he  conceived  the  idea  of  advancing  his  interests  by  securing  a  minor 
office  for  her  brother.  Lincoln  saw  the  point  and  made  the  appointment. 
Of  course,  this  was  not  his  chief  errand  to  the  capital. 


THE  LATER  HERNDON  285 

South  a  graveyard  rather  than  see  a  slavery  gospel  triumph,  or 
successful  secession  destroy  the  Union ! ' '  Both  spoke  kindly 
of  Douglas,  who  was  now  showing  that,  despite  his  partisan 
sophistry  in  other  days,  he  had  a  great  patriotic  heart.  They 
talked  a  while  of  the  old  office,  the  clients,  and  the  town,  and 
the  dark  tide  of  war  rolled  between  them  once  more. 

At  last  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  so  long  rivals,  if  not  enemies, 
were  of  one  mind  and  one  heart.  Old  animosities  were  forgot 
ten  in  their  common  and  high  consecration  to  the  Union.  No 
sooner  had  Lincoln  arrived  in  the  capital,  before  the  inaugura 
tion,  than  he  was  closeted  with  Douglas,  to  whom  he  seems  to 
have  read  his  inaugural  address.1  On  the  day  of  its  delivery 
Douglas  stood  by  the  side  of  his  former  opponent,  and  when 
Henry  Watterson,  a  young  reporter,  put  out  his  hand  to  take 
the  high  hat  of  Lincoln,  Douglas  took  it  instead  and  held  it 
during  the  ceremony,  while  the  aged  Judge  Taney,  who  wrote 
the  Dred  Scott  decision,  inducted  into  office  the  man  who  was  to 
make  that  opinion  forever  null  and  void.2  It  was  a  simple, 
artless  act,  but  a  symbolical  one,  and  its  significance  was  not 
lost.  When  a  shell  burst  over  Fort  Sumter,  on  April  12th, 
Lincoln  and  Douglas  were  cemented  in  one  common  aim.  From 
that  day  on,  they  were  in  frequent  consultation,  and  the  sorely 
tried  President  was  grateful  for  the  grip  of  so  strong  a  hand. 
Late  at  night,  April  14th,  Douglas  heard  Lincoln  read  his  call 
for  75,000  men,  and  suggested  that  the  number  should  be 
200,000;  for  he,  at  least,  did  not  underrate  the  chivalry  and 
valor  of  the  South.3  At  once  he  offered  his  services  to  the 
President,  willing  to  go  or  stay  where  he  could  do  the  most 
good.  Lincoln  asked  him  to  go  to  Illinois,  where  his  voice  was 

1  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  Johnson,  p.  464   (1908). 

2  The  Compromises  of  Life,  by  Henry  Watterson,  p.  153  (1903). 

s "  Virginia, "  he  said  to  his  friends,  pointing  towards  Arlington, 
' '  over  yonder  across  the  Patomac,  will  become  a  charnel-house.  Wash 
ington  will  become  a  city  of  hospitals,  and  churches  will  be  used  for  the 
sick  and  wounded.  This  house,  'Minnesota  Block,'  will  be  devoted  to 
that  purpose  before  the  war  is  ended."  —  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  I.  N. 
Arnold,  p.  193  (1884). 


286 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

like  a  bugle,  and  unify  the  State.1  There  was  a  quick  hand- 
grasp,  a  hurried  farewell,  and  they  parted  to  meet  no  more. 
His  speeches  on  the  way  were  pitched  in  a  lofty,  patriotic  key, 
and  his  address  before  the  Legislature  of  his  own  State  was  one 
of  the  greatest  of  his  life  —  putting  to  shame  the  devices  of 
John  A.  Logan.2  It  was  with  strange  and  mingled  feelings 
that  Herndon  listened  to  his  old  enemy  speaking  in  behalf  of 
Lincoln  and  the  Union. 

At  Chicago  Douglas  was  welcomed  as  never  before.  Friend 
and  foe  alike  joined  in  paying  tribute  to  the  partisan  who  had 
emerged  into  a  patriot,  and  his  speech  in  the  Wigwam,  where 
Lincoln  was  nominated,  was  memorable.  There  he  used  his 
famous  epigram:  "There  can  be  no  neutrals  in  this  war; 
only  patriots  —  or  traitors. ' '  An  undertone  of  pathos  was 
heard  in  his  words,  as  he  pleaded  that  the  war  be  conducted  in 
a  humane  spirit,  for  he  remembered  the  home  in  the  South 
still  dear  to  him,  where  the  mother  of  his  boys  had  played  as  a 
girl.  Not  long  afterward  he  fell  ill,  but  even  in  his  delirium 
he  was  battling  for  the  Union :  ' '  Telegraph  to  the  President 
and  let  the  column  move  on."  He  died  on  June  3rd,  in  the 
prime  of  life,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight.  Grief  at  his  passing, 
when  his  life  was  so  valuable,  was  profound  and  sincere.* 
Chicago  was  draped  in  mourning  when,  with  almost  royal 
pomp,  his  remains  were  laid  to  rest  beside  the  lake.4 

1  There  was  a  rumor,  which  persists  to  this  day,  that  Lincoln  intended 
to  take  Douglas  into  his  Cabinet,  or  else  give  him  a  high  military  posi 
tion;  but  no  one  knows  the  truth  of  it.  —  Anecdotes  of  Famous  Men,  by 
J.  W.  Forney,  Vol.  I,  pp.  121,  226   (1873). 

2  "  I  heard  Mr.  Douglas  deliver  his  speech  to   the  members  of  the 
Illinois  Legislature,  April  25,  1861,  in  the  gathering  tumult  of  arms.     It 
was  like  a  blast  of  thunder.     I  do  not  think  it  is  possible  for  a  human 
being  to  produce  a  more  prodigious  effect  with  spoken  words.    ...   He 
was  standing  in  the  same  place  where  I  had  first  heard  Mr.   Lincoln. 
That    speech    hushed    the    breath    of    treason    in    every    corner    of    the 
State."  —Horace  White,  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herudon  and  Weik,  Vol. 
II,  pp.  126-7. 

» Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  p.  359   (1869). 

* "  It  was  a  fitting  resting-place.  The  tempestuous  waters  of  the 
great  lake  reflect  his  own  stormy  career.  Yet  they  have  their  milder 


THE  LATER  HEENDON  287 

Amidst  rising  and  falling  hope,  victory  and  disaster,  joy 
and  gloom,  the  war  raged.  The  story  of  Lincoln  during  those 
years  was  the  story  of  his  country,  and  need  not  be  repeated 
here.  Few  realize,  however,  what  opposition  Lincoln  had  to 
encounter,  politically,  in  1864.  Sherman  had  entered  Georgia 
where  there  was  constant  fighting,  but  without  decisive  results. 
Grant  was  determined  to  pound  Richmond  into  powder,  if  it 
took  all  summer.  Volunteering  had  almost  ceased.  Draft 
after  draft  had  been  ordered,  and  taxes  had  increased  terribly, 
while  an  immense  debt  was  piling  up  —  a  million  dollars  a  day. 
Anti-war  Democrats  declared  the  war  a  failure,  and  were  mak 
ing  capital  out  of  it.  In  the  Cabinet,  and  among  the  higher 
officers  discarded  by  the  President,  there  were  rivals.  Arnold, 
himself  an  ardent  friend  of  Lincoln,  admits,  in  his  book,  Lin 
coln  and  Slavery,  that  a  majority  of  both  Houses  of  Congress, 
and  the  leaders  of  the  metropolitan  press,  were  against  the 
President.  Koerner  returned  from  Spain,  whither  he  had 
gone  as  minister,  and  found  the  German  leaders  in  revolt,  but 
not  the  people.1  At  one  time  Lincoln  gave  up  all  hope  of  a 
second  term,  and  looked  forward  with  joy  to  his  release,  for  he 
was  thin  and  worn  and  care-weary  —  so  much  so  that  Greeley 
doubted  whether  he  would  have  lived  out  another  term.2  But, 
despite  the  bickerings  of  politicians,  his  patience,  wisdom,  and 
fidelity  held  the  people  as  with  hooks  of  steel.  They  agreed 
with  his  homely  saying,  that  "it  is  not  wise  to  swap  horses 
while  crossing  a  stream,"  and  they  refused  to  swap. 

Herndon  wrought  valiantly  in  the  campaign  of  1864,  speak 
ing  almost  incessantly  and  with  unusual  eloquence  and  power. 
His  relations  with  Lincoln  gave  an  added  prestige  and  impres- 
siveness  to  his  words,  and  while  he  did  not  parade  the  fact  of 
his  partnership,  his  tones  betrayed  his  reverence  for  the  gentle, 
incorruptible,  magnificent  manhood  of  the  man  who  was  his 
friend  and  his  President.  The  sum  of  it  all  had  been  stated 

moods.  There  are  hours  when  the  sunlight  falls  aslant  the  subdued  sur 
face  and  irradiates  the  depths."  —  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  by  Allen  John 
son. 

1  Memoirs  of  Koerner,  Vol.  II,  pp.  408-9  (1909). 

2  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  p.  407    (1869). 


288  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

by  Senator  Doolittle,  in  his  brief  but  imf orgetable  speech  •  "I 
believe  in  God  and  Abraham  Lincoln ! ' '  No  partisan  pettiness 
could  stand  against  such  a  sentiment  of  blended  admiration 
and  gratitude,  soon  to  be  lifted  almost  to  worship  by  the  awful 
apocalypse  of  tragedy.  Lincoln  was  triumphant,  and  the 
Confederacy,  now  only  a  hollow  shell,  collapsed  on  every  side. 
As  Greeley  said,  others  might  have  restored  "the  Union  as  it 
was,"  but  God  gave  the  one  leader  who,  by  his  wisdom,  pa 
tience,  and  courage,  restored  it  free  of  the  stain  of  human 
slavery;  "leaving  to  such  short-sighted  mortals  as  I  no  part 
but  to  wonder  and  adore. ' ' * 

Six  days  after  the  surrender  of  Lee,  amid  the  joy  of  victory, 
Lincoln  fell  —  dying  for  his  country  as  truly  as  any  soldier 
who  fell  fighting  in  the  ranks.  On  that  day,  by  an  act  of  in 
sanity,  the  prostrate,  bleeding  South  lost  her  best  and  wisest 
friend,  and  the  only  man  strong  enough  and  kind  enough  to 
have  saved  her  from  that  ordeal  of  re-destruction,  which  was 
far  worse  than  the  war.  He  was  for  forgiveness,  mutual  recon 
ciliation,  and  brotherly  love,  but  his  dream  was  not  to  come 
true.  No  words  can  describe  that  Easter  Sunday  when  the 
nation,  dumb  with  grief  and  rage,  took  down  the  festoons  and 
arches,  celebrating  the  end  of  the  war,  and  replaced  them  with 
the  draperies  of  sorrow.  Even  his  enemies  understood  Lin 
coln  at  last  in  the  hour  of  his  transfiguration,  and  his  long, 
strange  funeral  procession  homeward  was  a  sad  ovation  of  love 
and  loyalty.  Farmers  could  be  seen  from  the  car  window, 
dim  figures  in  the  night,  watching  the  train  sweep  by,  waving 
farewell. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Springfield  bar  on  the  day  that  Lin 
coln  died,  held  in  the  court-house  in  which  he  had  practiced  so 
long,  a  number  of  lawyers  delivered  eloquent  addresses.  Last 
of  all  came  Mr.  Herndon,  who  spoke  of  his  exalted  virtues,  of 
his  great  intellectual  capacity,  of  his  clear  moral  perceptions, 
of  his  wonderful  sagacity,  and,  with  trembling  voice,  of  his 
kind  heart.  In  closing  he  spoke  with  deep  emotion  of  the  good 
feeling  and  good  will  that  always  existed  between  them.  On 

*  Recollections,  by  Horace  Greeley,  p.  409   (1869). 


THE  LATER  HEKNDON  289 

May  3rd,  the  casket  was  borne  to  the  State  House  —  to  the  Kep- 
resentative  Hall,  the  very  chamber  in  which,  in  1854,  he  had 
delivered  his  first  great  speech  against  the  evil  of  slavery.  Mr. 
Herndon  describes  the  scene : 

The  doors  were  thrown  open,  the  coffin  lid  was  removed,  and 
we  who  had  known  the  illustrious  dead  in  other  days,  before 
the  nation  had  laid  its  claim  upon  him,  moved  sadly  through 
and  looked  for  the  last  time  on  the  silent,  upturned  lace  of 
our  departed  friend.  All  day  long  and  through  the  night 
a  stream  of  people  filed  reverently  by  the  catafalque.  Some 
of  them  were  his  colleagues  at  the  bar ;  some  his  old  friends 
from  New  Salem ;  some  crippled  soldiers  fresh  from  the  bat 
tle-fields  of  the  war;  and  some  were  little  children  who, 
scarce  realizing  the  impressiveness  of  the  scene,  were  des 
tined  to  live  to  tell  their  children  yet  to  be  born  the  sad 
story  of  Lincoln's  death.  At  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  of 
the  second  day,  .  .  .  the  vault  door  opened  and  received 
to  its  final  rest  all  that  was  mortal  of  Abraham  Lincoln.1 

II 

Again  a  stream  of  letters  poured  in  upon  Mr.  Herndon,  asking 
for  reminiscences,  facts,  and  items  about  Lincoln,  whose  life- 
story  appealed  to  the  imagination  of  the  nation.  Newspaper 
men,  biographers,  and  magazine  writers  visited  and  inter 
viewed  him,  and  he  was  always  willing  to  tell  them  what  they 
asked  to  know,2  Much  time  and  labor  were  thus  spent  in  seek 
ing  to  set  his  great  friend  in  a  proper  light  before  the  public. 
Ready  writers  came  to  Springfield,  just  as  they  do  now,  and 
after  spending  a  few  days,  went  away  and  wrote  elaborately, 
informing  the  world  of  the  life,  character,  and  genius  of  Lin 
coln.  Such  performances  disgusted  Herndon,  since  these 

1  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  II,  283. 

2  Among  a  number   of   Herndon  manuscripts,   now  in   my  hands,   is 
one  entitled   "Statement:    a  Memorandum,   Jan.,   1886"  which   gives  a 
list  of  the  biographies  to  which  he  contributed  time,  energy,  and  facts: 
those   by   Holland,   Barrett,   Lamon,   Arnold,   the   Memorial  Album,   and 
others.     These   men   could   hardly  have   written   their  books   without   his 
aid  but  they  give  him  little  credit.     He  does  not  attempt  to  keep  trace 
of  the  number  of  interviews  with  journalists,  while  his  correspondents 
were  almost  without  number. 


290 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

facile  scribes  sought  rather  to  confirm  an  idealized  popular 
conception  than  to  know  the  truth.  Eulogy  of  this  sort  an 
noyed  him  because  it  belittled  Lincoln,  in  that  it  praised  him 
without  discrimination  for  attributes  which  he  did  not  possess, 
while  leaving  out  of  account  his  really  great  qualities. 

With  the  hope  of  counteracting  this  tendency,  Mr.  Herndon 
delivered  a  number  of  lectures  on  Lincoln  in  Springfield  dur 
ing  the  winter  of  1865-6.  They  were  somewhat  crude  as  to 
art,  for  he  lacked  the  polish  of  a  man  of  letters,  but  they  bore 
every  mark  of  accuracy,  veracity,  and  insight,  as  over  against 
the  sentimental  apotheosis  then  going  on.  They  were  reverent 
and  faithful  portrayals  of  Lincoln,  of  his  humble  beginnings 
amidst  primitive  surroundings,  of  his  early  habits,  tendencies, 
and  aspirations,  of  the  struggle  and  sorrow  whereby  he  became 
a  man,  of  the  qualities  of  his  mind,  with  its  blend  of  abstract 
thought  and  practical  sagacity,  of  his  political  ambition  and 
shrewdness,  and  finally  of  his  patriotic  statesmanship.  The 
third  address,  which  was  a  description  of  Lincoln  and  an  an 
alysis  of  his  intellect,  afterwards  served  as  the  closing  chapter 
of  his  biography,  and  it  remains  a  classic  to  this  day.  Besides, 
he  wrote  articles  for  the  Chicago  Tribune  on  various  aspects 
of  the  life  of  Lincoln,  correcting  errors  and  setting  forth  the 
man  as  he  knew  him. 

These  articles,  with  excerpts  from  his  lectures,  went  the 
rounds  of  the  press,  and  he  was  severely  censured  by  many. 
Some,  Arnold,  for  instance,  wrote  urging  him  to  desist,  lest  the 
enemies  of  Lincoln  pervert  the  facts  to  the  injury  of  his  fame. 
Others  insisted  that  Herndon  was  so  close  to  the  stump  that  he 
could  not  see  the  size  of  the  tree,  and  still  others  regarded  him 
as  an  embittered  man  who  was  slandering  the  dead.  In  spite 
of  all  fears,  he  labored  without  rest  in  the  faith  that  the  real 
Lincoln  was  greater  than  the  fictitious  image  of  popular  fancy, 
and  that  the  more  vividly  he  was  revealed  the  more  secure  his 
memory  would  be.  Oddly  enough,  for  years  there  were  those 
who  thought  that  he  had  turned  traitor  to  his  friend  and  was 
engaged  in  besmirching  a  great,  a  revered  memory,  as  if  the 
plain  story  of  Lincoln  were  a  slander.  Others  dismissed  him 


THE  LATER  HERNDON 291 

as  a  man  of  no  sensibilities,  of  gross  taste,  a  peddler  of  gossip, 
unworthy  of  notice.  If  any  such  remain,  let  them  read  these 
words  from  a  letter  written  in  reply  to  such  a  complaint  in 
1866: 

I  wish  to  address  you  as  a  man  of  good  judgment,  and  good 
taste.  To  my  own  knowledge  Lincoln  has  for  thirty  years 
been  led  by  God  through  a  fiery  furnace,  heated  white  hot. 
By  this  purifying  process  of  God  he  has  been  broadened  and 
deepened  in  his  sympathy  and  love  for  man,  has  been  made 
more  liberal,  more  sympathetic,  more  tolerant,  more  kind 
and  tender  —  the  noblest  and  loveliest  character  since  Christ. 
His  qualities  and  characteristics  were  developed,  if  not  cre 
ated,  by  that  fiery  furnace  journey,  and  yet  timid  men,  false 
friends,  would  rob  him  of  his  crown  to  keep  up  a  fancied 
ideal  in  their  own  little  minds.  I  shall  not  aid  in  that  crime 
by  robbery  of  the  tomb  and  fame  of  Lincoln ! 

Some  men  say  that  Lincoln  was  a  tender  man,  and  yet 
they  do  not  wish  to  know  and  learn  how  he  was  made  so. 
He  was  President  of  the  United  States,  and  yet  men  do  not 
want  to  know  what  made  him  President.  I  say  to  you  that 
sympathy  aided  —  strongly  and  visibly  aided  —  to  make 
him  the  ruler  of  a  great  free  people.  Where  did  he  get  his 
sympathy  for  the  black  man,  the  low  bred  and  oppressed? 
In  God 's  fiery  furnace,  and  yet  you  will  not  hear  of  it ! 
Lincoln  was  God's  chosen  one  —  His  special  man  —  His 
great-hearted  man  for  America  and  her  times.  God  tested 
him  by  leading  him  through  the  fiery  furnace. 

I  have  thought  about  all  these  things,  have  analysed  my 
self  —  what  I  know  and  the  facts  —  and  have  determined 
my  course.  I  know  what  I  am  doing.1 

Surely  these  were  not  the  words  of  a  morose  and  embittered 
man  who  had  betrayed  the  memory  of  a  friend.  Indeed,  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that,  had  Mr.  Herndon  not  taken  his  stand 
in  behalf  of  the  unvarnished  truth,  continued  his  labors,  and 
endured  the  censure  heaped  upon  him,  the  true  Lincoln  would 
now  be  more  than  half  hidden  from  our  view.  He  recalled  the 
fate  of  Washington  at  the  hands  of  Weems,  who  turned  a  man 
of  high  and  tender  humanity  into  a  stiff  and  colorless  statue, 
not  a  man  but  a  marble  image.  ' '  Such  an  image,  built  up  by 
i  Ms.  letter  to  Mr.  Hiekman,  Dec.  6,  1866. 


292 


falsehood  and  suppression,  is  a  sham,  a  lie,  and  a  fraud, ' '  which 
Lincoln,  who  loved  the  truth,  would  repudiate.  If  his  enemies 
were  eager  to  belie  him,  that  was  all  the  more  reason  why  his 
friends  should  be  alert  to  tell  the  truth,  "sift  the  facts  here 
and  now, ' '  lest  vague  and  shadowy  rumors  float  into  the  future. 
Arnold  wrote,  not  without  a  touch  of  satire,  regretting  that 
Herndon  should  feel  that  the  fame  of  Lincoln  rested  in  his 
hands,  pleading  that  some  of  the  facts,  which  Lincoln  left  un 
explained,  be  left  in  the  silence  of  the  grave.  Herndon  re 
plied  : 

Is  any  man  so  insane  as  to  suppose  that  any  truth  concern 
ing  Lincoln  will  be  hid  and  buried  out  of  human  view? 
Folly !  The  best  way  is  to  tell  the  whole  truth  and  let  it 
burn  up  lies.  Lincoln  is  above  reproach,  thank  God ;  let  no 
one  fear  to  have  all  the  truth  about  him  brought  clearly  to 
light.  I  do  not  deal  in  "gossip,"  and  will  not.  Lincoln's 
reputation  does  not  rest  in  my  hands,  nor  exclusively  in 
yours.  What  you  so  fear  is  that  some  fact,  left  unexplained 
by  Lincoln,  will  be  uttered  by  me.  If  you  dread  that,  you 
had  better  burn  up  your  books :  because  nearly  all  of  Lin 
coln  's  life  is  such  a  state  of  facts.  ...  No  man  explains  all 
he  does,  not  one  tenth  of  it.  He  leaves  most  of  his  acts  in 
obscurity.  Some  men  do  not  "blow  their  own  horn,"  and 
where  they  are  great,  noble,  national  men,  let  us  blow  their 
horns  for  them.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  ambitious  man,  strug 
gled  for  the  Presidency,  and  reached  it,  yet  he  left  many  of 
his  motives,  purposes,  desires  in  the  dead  silence.  Shall  we 
not  tell  the  truth  about  them  simply  because  he  was  too 
modest,  and  too  sensible,  to  "blow  his  own  horn?"  He 
made  his  great  house-divided-against-itself  speech,  and  yet 
he  never  wholly  explained  to  any  mortal  man  why  he  did  it. 
Shall  we  not  inquire  into  the  reasons  ?  You  and  I  are  left 
for  that  very  duty,  and  let  us  do  it.1 

Just  when  Mr.  Herndon  formed  the  idea  of  writing  a  biography 
of  Lincoln,  is  not  known ;  but  it  was  almost  certainly  before  his 
partner  became  President.  His  editorial  in  the  Sangamon 
Journal  describing  the  speech  delivered  by  Lincoln  at  Spring 
field,  October,  1854,  gives  a  hint  of  such  a  purpose.  At  least, 

i  Ms.    letter   to   I.    N.    Arnold,   Nov.    30,    1866,   by   the   kindness   of 
J.  W.  Weik. 


THE  LATER  HERNDQN 293 

we  find  him  making  notes  of  the  doings  and  sayings  of  his  part 
ner  as  early  as  1856,  and  when  Lincoln  died  Herndon  seemed 
to  be  the  only  man  who  had  a  complete  and  chronological  file 
of  his  speeches,  with  the  places  and  dates  of  their  delivery. 
More  than  once  he  wrote  to  Lincoln  in  the  White  House  asking 
for  copies  of  his  speeches.  No  doubt  Lincoln  suspected  some 
such  purpose  on  the  part  of  his  junior  partner  when  in  1858, 
after  trying  to  read  the  Life  of  Edmund  Burke,  he  gave  his 
opinion  of  biographies  which  made  heroes  of  men.1  In  an  in 
troduction  to  one  of  his  lectures  in  1866  Mr.  Herndon  ex 
plained,  in  part  at  least,  why  his  biography  of  Lincoln  had  been 
delayed,  and  those  reasons  became  more  urgent  as  the  years 
went  on : 

My  pecuniary  condition  will  not  let  me  rest.  Duty  holds 
me  sternly  to  my  profession.  I  cannot  drop  these  duties, 
spurred  on  by  necessity,  as  I  am,  to  sit  down  and  finish  the 
long  contemplated  life  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  am  compelled  to 
work  slowly,  but  what  I  shall  lose  in  speed  I  shall  gain  in 
value  and  certainty  of  record.  I  owe  to  man  the  facts  and 
the  story  which  shall  become,  I  believe,  not  through  me,  as 
to  artistic  beauty,  one  of  the  world's  most  classic  stories.  I 
wish  to  perform  my  duty  honestly  and  truthfully.  I  do 
not  wish  to  injure  the  dead,  nor  to  wound  the  feelings  of 
any  living  man  or  woman.  I  want  only  truth,  and  am  deep 
ly  interested  to  have  facts  known  exactly  as  they  are,  truth 
fully  and  substantially  told. 

Happily  there  were  those  who  saw  what  he  was  trying  to  do 
and  had  faith  not  only  in  his  good  judgment,  but  in  his  good 
taste  as  well.  All  felt  that  the  biographies  so  far  published  — 
those  by  Holland  and  Barrett  —  while  admirable  in  many 
ways,  considering  the  short  time  since  the  death  of  Lincoln, 
were,  as  one  critic  remarked,  "simply  histories  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  time,  and  not  carefully  written  reflections  of  the  do 
mestic  and  inner  life  of  the  man  himself. ' '  Others  were  prom 
ised,  including  a  large  work  by  R.  D.  Owen,  and  a  history  of 
Lincoln's  Administration,  by  I.  N.  Arnold,  besides  a  collec 
tion  of  Anecdotes  of  the  Late  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  C.  G. 
i  Abraliam  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  II,  p.  147. 


294 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Leland.  After  mentioning  these  forthcoming  volumes,  the 
Philadelphia  Bulletin,  April  1,  1866,  has  this  to  say  of  Mr. 
Herndon  and  his  work : 

The  reader  has  probably  perused  a  portion  at  least  of  those 
admirable  lectures  on  the  late  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Mr. 
Herndon,  which  were  so  extensively  published  in  the  news 
papers,  and  so  generally  commented  upon  as  presenting  re 
markable  and  highly  original  reflections  and  descriptions. 
As  it  may  be  inferred  that  Abraham  Lincoln  would  not  have 
been  for  twenty  years  associated  with  a  man  of  only  ordinary 
capacity,  it  was  not  astonishing  that  these  lectures  should  in 
dicate  in  Mr.  Herndon  a  genius  of  no  ordinary  kind.  His 
description  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  personal  appearance  has  be 
come  the  standard  and  universally  accepted  word-portrait 
of  the  original,  while  his  anaylsis  of  the  mind  and  disposi 
tion  of  his  subject,  indicated  a  very  rare  combination  of  deli 
cate  examination  and  a  strict  conscientiousness,  allied  with 
a  happy  appreciation  of  all  that  is  characteristic  and  inter 
esting.  Mr.  Herndon  has,  as  the  public  will  be  glad  to 
learn,  determined  to  give  us  a  good  life  of  Mr.  Lincoln  - 
personal,  social,  domestic,  religious,  and  legal  —  as  the  pos 
session  of  a  vast  amount  of  facts  and  illustrations  ( far  trans 
cending  that  held  by  any  other  man)  will  enable  him  to  do. 
Of  his  ability  to  set  his  material  forth  in  a  vividly  interesting 
form,  his  lectures  are  the  best  guarantee,  as  well  as  the  fact 
that  for  a  large  portion  of  the  incidents  relative  to  Lincoln 's 
early  life  now  current,  the  public  were  originally  indebted 
to  Mr.  Herndon  —  a  truth  which  the  writer  of  these  re 
marks  infers  not  only  from  the  frequent  mention  of  Mr. 
Herndon 's  name  as  authority  for  many  interesting  Lincoln- 
ana,  but  from  the  mere  circumstance  that  no  other  man  so 
curious  in  matters  of  biography  was  so  thoroughly  con 
versant  with  the  subject. 

It  has  been  well  observed  that  posterity  may  afford  the 
best  biographers  of  a  man's  public  life;  but  for  his  early 
career,  we  must  depend  on  those  of  his  own  time.  To  this 
early  career  of  Lincoln,  previous  to  his  life  at  Washington, 
Mr.  Herndon  has  devoted  great  attention,  and  collected  a 
vast  amount  of  exceedingly  rich  material,  which  will  set 
forth  ' '  Father  Abraham  "  as  a  living  personality,  talking  to 
the  reader  at  his  fireside,  gravely  or  quaintly  discussing  his 
law  office,  and  presenting,  in  fact,  so  much  of  every  thing 
which  is  not  known  of  the  subject  as  could  be  anticipated 
from  a  writer  of  Mr.  Herndon 's  sagacity  and  collective  dis- 


THE  LATER  HEBNDON 295 

position,  aided  by  twenty  years  of  the  most  intimate  per 
sonal  relations. 

One  of  the  enthusiasms  of  Mr.  Herndon  was  his  admiration  for 
the  pioneers,  their  achievements  and  sayings.  Any  one  who 
spoke  slurringly  of  the  early  settlers,  especially  of  Illinois, 
many  of  whom  he  knew,  was  sure  to  provoke  his  ire.  For  ex 
ample  :  one  writer  remarked,  speaking  of  Thomas  Lincoln,  that 
when  ' '  inefficient  men  become  uncomfortable  they  are  likely  to 
try  emigration  as  a  remedy,"  and  that  a  good  deal  of  "the 
spirit  of  the  pioneers"  was  simply  a  "spirit  of  shiftless  dis 
content.  ' '  How  unjust  this  was  to  the  pioneer  in  general,  and 
to  Thomas  Lincoln  in  particular,  no  one  has  shown  with  more 
earnestness  and  eloquence  than  Mr.  Herndon  did  in  his  lecture 
entitled,  "Abraham  Lincoln,  Miss  Rutledge,  New  Salem,  Pio 
neering,  and  the  Poem "  —  a  lecture  as  remarkable  in  its  con 
tents  as  in  its  title.1  The  lecture  has  not  been  widely  pub 
lished,  except  in  part,  and  this  may  excuse  the  length  of  the  ex 
cerpt  to  follow;  the  more  so  as  it  portrays  the  background 
against  which  the  early  life  of  both  Lincoln  and  Herndon  must 
be  seen.  It  was  delivered  in  1866,  and  contained,  besides  the 
first  recital  of  the  romance  of  Lincoln  and  Ann  Rutledge,  an 
astonishing  wealth  of  nature  lore.  Herndon  knew  the  town  of 
New  Salem,  its  scenery  and  its  people,  and  the  place  was  dear 
to  him  for  its  memories  of  Lincoln  not  less  than  for  its  natural 
beauty.  Some  liberty  has  been  taken  in  arranging  the  passage, 
which  is  an  admirable  specimen  of  the  vivid,  virile  style  of  the 
writer : 

As  I  sit  on  the  verge  of  the  town,  I  cannot  exclude  from  my 
memory  the  forms,  faces  and  voices  of  those  I  once  knew  so 


1  Parts  of  the  lecture  appeared  in  the  papers  ot  the  time  and  created 
a  flurry  of  comment,  some  surmising  that  Herndon  himself  had  been  a 
suitor  for  the  hand  of  Miss  Rutledge.  This,  of  course,  was  untrue.  But 
the  display  of  nature  lore  was  indeed  remarkable,  some  of  its  passages 
being  floral  processions  to  an  accompaniment  of  bird-song.  My  thanks 
are  due  to  the  Illinois  Historical  Society  for  its  use,  though  a  small 
edition  of  the  lecture  has  recently  been  published  (1910).  The  "Poem" 
referred  to  in  the  title  was  the  piece,  a  favorite  with  Lincoln,  "Oh.  why 
should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud?" 


296 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

well.  In  my  imagination,  the  little  town  perched  on  the 
hill  is  astir  with  busy  men,  and  from  the  country  come  men 
and  women  afoot  and  on  horseback,  to  see  and  be  seen.  Oh, 
what  a  history!  Here  it  was  that  bold  roysterer  met  and 
greeted  roysterer;  bumper  rang  to  bumper,  and  strong 
friend  met  friend  and  fought  friend.  Here  it  was  that 
every  newcomer  was  initiated,  quickly  and  rudely,  into  the 
lights  and  mysteries  of  Western  life.  They  were  men  of  no 
college  culture,  but  they  had  their  broad,  well-tested  experi 
ences,  good  sense  and  sound  judgment,  and  if  the  stranger 
bore  well  his  part  he  at  once  became,  thenceforward,  a 
brother  of  the  clan  forever.  This  is  not  a  fancy  picture. 
It  existed  as  I  have  told  it,  and  Lincoln  had  to  pass  it.  He 
did  it  nobly  and  well,  and  held  unlimited  sway  over  the 
clan.  .  .  .  Such  a  people  the  world  never  sees  but  once, 
and  such  a  people !  I  knew  them  all ;  have  been  with  them 
all,  and  respect  them  all.  This  is  the  ground  on  which  Lin 
coln  walked,  sported,  joked  and  laughed,  studied  surveying 
and  grammar,  read  for  the  first  time  Shakespear  and  Burns, 
and  here  it  was  that  he  loved  and  despaired.  The  spirit  of 
New  Salem  is  to  me  lonely  and  yet  sweet.  It  presides  over 
the  soul  gently,  tenderly,  yet  sadly.  It  does  not  frown.  It 
does  not  crush.  It  entices  and  enwraps. 

Four  distinct  waves  or  classes  of  men  have  followed  each 
other  on  the  soil  we  daily  tread.  The  first  was  the  Indian. 
The  second  was  the  bee  and  beaver  hunter,  the  embodied 
spirit  of  Western  pioneering  —  wandering  gypsies  of  the 
forests  and  the  plains.  This  original  man  wras  tall,  lean, 
cadaverous,  sallow,  shaggy-haired;  his  face  was  sharp  and 
angular;  his  eyes  small,  sunken,  inquisitive,  and  piercing. 
He  wore  a  hunting  shirt  made  of  soft  buckskin,  buckled 
tightly  about  his  body.  His  moccasins  were  of  the  very 
best  buck.  He  never  tired,  was  quick,  shrewd,  powerful, 
cunning,  brave,  and  cautious.  He  was  shy,  nervous,  and 
uneasy  in  the  villages.  He  dreaded,  did  not  scorn,  our  civil 
ization.  .  .  .  See  him  in  the  wilds,  as  I  have  seen  him, 
strike  up  the  loose  rim  of  his  hat,  that  hung  like  a  rag  over 
his  eyes,  and  peer  keenly  into  the  distance  for  Indian  or 
deer.  Overtake  him  and  try  to  hold  conversation  with  him, 
if  you  can.  He  was  stern,  silent,  secretive,  and  uncommun 
icative  —  a  man  of  deeds,  not  speech.  His  words  were  of 
one  syllable,  sharp  nouns  and  active  verbs  mostly.  He  was 
swifter  than  the  Indian,  stronger,  and  had  more  brains.  This 
man  was  bee-hunter,  trapper,  and  Indian  fighter.  ...  Is 
fire  inefficient  in  its  heat?  Is  lightning  inefficient  in  its 


THE  LATER  HEBNDON 297 

activity?  If  so,  we  may  admit  that  these  were  inefficient 
men! 

The  third  class  was  composed  of  three  distinct  varieties 
of  men,  coming  as  a  triple  wave.  The  first  was  the  religious 
man,  a  John  the  Baptist  preaching  in  the  wilderness;  the 
second  was  the  honest,  hardy,  thrifty,  active,  economical 
farmer ;  and  the  third  class  was  composed  of  the  wild,  genial, 
social  man  —  a  mixture  of  the  gentleman  and  the  rowdy. 
They  were  a  hospitable  class  of  men,  had  no  economy,  cared 
only  for  the  hour,  and  yet  many  of  them  grew  rich.  It  was 
impossible  to  hate  them,  and  impossible  to  cheat,  whip  or 
fool  them.  They  gave  tone  and  caste  and  character  to  the 
neighborhood,  in  spite  of  all  that  can  be  said.  These  men, 
especially  about  New  Salem,  could  shave  a  horse's  mane 
and  tail  and  offer  him  for  sale  to  the  owner  in  the  very  act 
of  inquiring  for  his  own  horse.  They  could  hoop  up  in  a 
hogshead  a  drunken  man,  they  themselves  being  drunk,  and 
roll  the  man  down  New  Salem  hill.  Yet  they  could  clear  a 
forest  of  Indians  or  wolves  in  a  short  time ;  could  trench  a 
pond,  ditch  a  bog,  erect  a  log  house,  pray  and  fight,  make 
a  village  or  create  a  State.  They  would  do  all  for  fun,  or 
from  necessity  —  do  it  for  a  neighbor  —  and  they  could  do 
the  reverse  of  all  this  for  pure,  unalloyed  deviltry.  They 
attended  church,  heard  the  sermon,  wept  and  prayed,  got  up 
and  fought  an  hour,  and  then  went  back  to  prayer,  just  as 
the  spirit  moved  them.  These  men  —  I  am  speaking  gen 
erally —  were  always  true  to  women  —  their  fast  friends, 
protectors  and  defenders.  There  were  scarcely  any  such 
on  the  globe  for  this  virtue.  Though  these  men  were  rude 
and  rough,  though  life's  forces  ran  over  the  edge  of  its 
bowl  and  sparkled  in  pure  deviltry,  yet  place  before  them 
a  man  who  needed  their  aid,  a  woman,  a  widow,  or  a  child, 
then  they  melted  into  sympathy  and  charity,  quick  as  a 
flash,  and  gave  all  they  had,  and  toiled  willingly  or  played 
cards  for  more. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  defend  Thomas  Lincoln.  It 
is  not  necessary  that  I  should  flatter  the  pioneer.  It  is  ad 
mitted  that  all  men  emigrate  from  their  homes  to  new  lands 
in  the  hope  of  bettering  their  conditions,  which  at  home  are 
sometimes  chafingly  uncomfortable.  The  pioneers  did  not 
go  to  the  wilderness  always  in  lust  of  land;  they  went  to 
satisfy  their  souls.  The  spirit  of  pioneering  is  not  a  spirit 
of  "shiftless  discontent,"  nor  any  part  of  it,  but  is  the 
creating  spirit ;  a  desire  to  rise  up  in  the  scale  of  being ;  the 
Spirit  of  God  moving  in  the  hearts  of  men  as  on  the  face  of 


298  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDQN 

the  waters.  Good  men  and  tender  women  do  not,  from  a 
spirit  of  "shiftless  discontent,"  quit  their  homes  and  the 
sacred  ashes  of  their  dead,  and  rush  into  an  unsettled  wil 
derness,  where  they  know  they  must  struggle  with  disease, 
poverty,  Nature,  the  wild  wolf  and  wilder  men.  They  go  at 
God's  command.  .  .  .  The  pioneers  were  not  inefficient 
men.  They  had  energy  and  creative  activity,  with  capacity, 
honesty,  and  valor.  Their  children  can  point  with  pride  to 
the  deep,  broad,  magnanimous  foundations  of  these  States 
created  by  them. 

My  defense  is  ended.  The  red  man  has  gone.  The  hunter 
has  gone,  the  wild  animals  treading  closely  on  his  heels. 
He  and  they  are  gone,  never  to  return.  As  path-makers, 
blazers,  mappers,  they  had  their  uses  in  the  divine  plan. 
The  rollicking  roysterer  is  still  among  us,  though  tamed  by 
age  into  a  moral  man.  They  were  succeeded  by  the  Arm 
strongs,  the  Rutledges,  the  Greens,  the  Spears,  the  Lincolns, 
who  have  their  uses  in  the  great  Idea.  A  fourth  class  have 
come  among  us  seeking  fortune,  position,  power,  fame,  hav 
ing  ideas,  philosophy,  gearing  the  forces  of  nature  for  hu 
man  uses,  purposes  and  wants.  They  come  from  the  East, 
from  the  Middle  States,  from  the  South;  they  come  from 
every  quarter  of  the  globe,  full-grown  men.  Here  are  the 
English  and  the  German,  the  Scotch  and  the  Irish;  here 
and  there  and  everywhere  is  the  indomitable  and  inevitable 
Yankee,  victorious  over  all.  Thus  we  come  and  go,  and  in 
coming  and  going  we  have  risen  up  through  force,  cunning 
and  the  rifle,  to  the  dollars,  the  steam  engine,  and  the  Idea. 
We  have  moved  from  wolf  to  mind.  We  have  grown  up 
ward,  outward,  higher,  and  better,  living  in  more  virtue, 
less  vice,  freer  and  purer.  So  are  the  records  of  all  time ! 

As  an  example  at  once  of  native  eloquence  and  social  insight, 
as  a  defense  of  the  pioneer  and  a  picture  of  the  background 
whence  the  newer  West  evolved  out  of  the  old,  this  passage  is 
worthy  of  remembrance.  Both  Lincoln  and  Herndon  lived 
and  grew  midway  in  that  transition,  and  strange  lights  and 
shadows  blended  in  their  natures.  Of  Southern  origin  and 
Northern  spirit,  they  belonged  to  an  order  of  men  peculiar  to 
the  great  West,  as  unlike  the  psalm-singing,  witch-hunting 
Yankees  of  the  East  as  the  slaveholding,  sport-loving  feudal 
lords  of  the  far  South.  Had  it  not  been  for  these  men,  and 
others  of  their  kind,  the  Union  would  have  gone  to  pieces  in  a 


THE  LATER  HERNDON 299 

conflict  between  forces  so  alien,  so  unrelenting,  and  so  extreme. 
Sound  of  body,  clear  of  mind,  generous  and  humane  of  heart, 
they  united  abstract  thought  with  practical  sagacity,  and  hard- 
headed  realism  with  the  spirit  of  poetry. 

Ill 

Among  other  visitors  entertained  by  Mr.  Herndon  was  George 
Alfred  Townsend  —  better  known  as  ' '  Gath, ' '  his  pen-name  — 
correspondent,  lecturer,  and  poet.  He  came  to  Springfield  to 
lecture,  and  having  two  days  of  leisure  he  spent  one  half  of 
each  talking  to  Mr.  Herndon  about  his  famous  partner.  The 
result  was  an  article  entitled  ' '  The  Real  Life  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln  :  A  Talk  with  his  Late  Law  Partner, ' '  which  appeared  in 
the  New  York  Tribune,  dated  January  25,  1867.  It  included, 
among  other  things,  the  following  description  of  Mr.  Herndon, 
his  office,  and  his  library: 

Until  very  lately  you  might  have  read  upon  a  bare  stairway, 
opposite  the  Court  House  Square,  the  sign  of  "Lincoln  & 
Herndon. ' '  A  year  ago  it  gave  place  to  the  name  of  ' '  Hern 
don  &  Zane. ' '  Ascending  the  stairs  one  flight,  you  see  two 
doors  to  your  right  hand.  That  in  the  rear  leads  to  what 
was  for  a  generation  the  law  office  of  the  President.  With 
in,  is  a  dismantled  room,  strewn  with  faded  briefs  and  leaves 
of  books;  no  desks  nor  chairs  remaining;  a  single  bracket 
of  gas  darkened  in  the  center,  by  whose  flame  he  whom  our 
children's  children  shall  reverently  name,  prepared,  per 
haps,  his  gentle,  sturdy  utterances :  and  out  of  the  window 
you  get  a  sweep  of  stable-roofs,  dingy  back-yards  and  ash- 
heaps.  As  simple  an  office,  even  for  a  country  lawyer,  as 
ever  I  saw  in  my  life,  it  is  now  in  the  transition  condition 
of  being  prepared  for  another  tenant. 

In  the  middle  of  the  room  the  future  President  sat  at  a 
table  side,  and  in  the  adjoining  room  the  table  and  all  the 
furniture  of  the  place  is  still  retained,  while  in  the  back 
corner,  looking  meditatively  at  the  cylinder  stove,  you  see 
Mr.  Herndon.  He  resembles  Mr.  Lincoln  so  much,  and  in 
his  present  quarters,  garb,  and  worldly  condition,  is  so 
nearly  a  reproduction  of  "A.  Lincoln,  lawyer,"  that  we 
may  as  well  take  a  turn  around  the  surviving  man  and  the 
room.  How  young  Herndon  might  have  looked  twenty-five 
years  ago  we  can  scarcely  infer  from  the  saffron-faced,  blue- 


300  LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 

black  haired  man  before  us,  bearded  bushily  at  the  throat, 
disposed  to  shut  one  eye  for  accuracy  in  conversation,  his 
teeth  discolored  by  tobacco,  and  over  his  angular  features, 
which  suggest  Lincoln's  in  ampleness  and  shape,  the  same 
half-tender  melancholy. 

"Mr.  Lincoln,"  said  Mr.  Herndon,  "cared  so  little  about 
clothes  that  he  sometimes  did  not  put  all  of  them  on.  He 
was  brought  up  barefoot."  Mr.  Herndon,  by  parallel, 
wears  to-day  a  bright  yellow  pair  of  breeches,  turned  up 
twice  at  the  bottoms,  and  looks  to  be  a  wind-hardened  farm 
er,  rather  than  one  of  the  best  lawyers  in  the  State,  and,  as 
a  public  man,  is  charged  with  delivering  the  best  stump 
speeches  in  Illinois,  on  the  Republican  side,  during  the  late 
election.  His  address  is  homely  in  form,  commencing  with, 
"Friend,  I'll  answer  your  question;"  and  this  he  does 
without  equivocation,  with  his  long  fore-finger  extended,  and 
with  such  a  fund  of  new  information  upon  the  revered  mem 
ory  in  question  that  although  the  Lincoln  biographers,  from 
Holland  up,  have  talked  with  him,  he  seems  to  be  brim-full 
of  new  reminiscences.  .  "With  an  extraordinary  memory, 
great  facility  of  inference,  and  a  sturdy  originality  OL  opin 
ion,  he  had  the  effect  upon  me  to  stagger  all  my  notions  of 
the  dead  President. 

He  has  been  a  wonderful  desultory  reader,  and  in  his  law 
library  you  may  see  the  anomalous  companions  for  a  prairie 
attorney  of  Bailey 's  Festus,  Kant 's  Critique,  Comte  's  Phil 
osophy,  Louis  Blanc,  and  many  of  the  disobedient  essayists. 
He  has  one  of  the  best  private  libraries  in  the  West,  and  in 
this  respect  he  is  unlike  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  seldom  bought  a 
book,  and  seldom  read  one. 

After  the  death  of  Lincoln,  with  other  disasters  "following 
fast  and  following  faster,"  Mr.  Herndon  seemed  to  lose  interest 
to  some  extent  in  human  affairs,  particularly  in  politics  and 
in  the  law  as  a  science.  He  retired  to  his  farm  a  few  miles 
from  Springfield,  still  keeping  his  office  in  town  until  Mr. 
Zane,  his  partner,  was  elevated  to  the  bench.  In  farming, 
however,  he  was  a  failure,  but  he  took  great  delight  in  his 
garden  in  which  he  cultivated  specimens  of  all  the  wild  flowers 
in  Illinois.  An  outlay  of  money  for  farm  improvements  just 
before  the  panic  in  the  early  seventies,  plunged  him  into  finan 
cial  distress,  forcing  him  to  lose  a  part  of  his  splendid  library ; 


THE  LATER  HERNDON 301 

and  the  disappointment  exposed  him  to  the  assaults  of  his  old 
infirmity  of  drink.  By  selling  copies  of  his  Lincolnana  to 
W.  H.  Lamon  for  $2,000  he  recovered  himself,  and  turned  his 
attention  to  the  raising  of  various  sorts  of  fruits.  This  ven 
ture  proved  to  be  successful  and  he  soon  found  himself  on  more 
solid  footing.  Through  it  all  he  kept  a  brave  heart,  despite 
occasional  lapses,  and  he  was  never  a  man  to  trouble  others 
with  his  misfortunes.  Lincoln  students  continued  to  visit 
him,  some  of  them  staying  for  weeks  at  a  time,  for  he  was  as 
generous  with  his  time  as  with  his  vast  store  of  materials.  One 
regrets  to  record  that  some  of  these  scribes  —  if  one  may  not 
call  them  Pharisees  —  forgot  to  give  him  due  credit  for  his  aid, 
often  parading  his  materials  as  the  fruits  of  their  own  research 
es.1 

In  July,  1873,  an  article  appeared  in  Scribner's  Monthly 
reporting  a  lecture  on  ' '  The  Religion  of  Lincoln, ' '  by  the  Rev. 
J.  A.  Reed,  who  described  himself  as  the  "defender  of  the 
Christian  faith  of  Lincoln."  Mr.  Reed,  who  had  once  been 
pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  of  Springfield,  was 
one  of  the  few  ministers  whom  Lincoln  had  liked  as  a  man,  and 
his  lecture,  brought  out  no  doubt  by  the  statements  made  in  the 
Lamon  biography,2  created  no  little  stir.  It  was  claimed  that 
Lincoln,  just  before  leaving  Springfield  for  Washington,  had 
made  an  examination  of  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  and  had 
intimated  to  the  writer  his  acceptance  of  the  faith,  if  not  of  the 
theology,  of  the  orthodox  church.  Of  course  there  was  joy  in 
evangelical  circles.  Some  rejoiced  to  learn  that  Lincoln,  be 
fore  his  death,  had  attained  to  saving  faith,  while  others  has 
tened  to  add  his  name  to  the  list  of  eminent  indorsers  of 
Christianity.  Sceptics  sneered  at  the  idea  that  Lincoln  had 

1  The    Ms.    ' '  Statement :    a  Memorandum, ' '   by  Mr.  Herndon,   dated 
1886,  now  in  my  hands,  gives  a  partial  list  of  those  whom  he  assisted 
in  this  way.     Names  need  not  be  mentioned;  but  if  these  men,  instead 
of  belittling  Mr.   Herndon,   as  some   of  them   did,   had   confessed   their 
indebtedness  to  him,  it  would  have  been  more  in  accord  with  the  ameni 
ties  of  life.     Herndon  himself  uttered  no  complaint  against  them. 

2  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  W.  H.  Lamon,  pp.  486-504   (1872). 


302 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

been  in  danger  of  being  lost  and  had  been  rescued  by  a  creed 
which,  strangely  enough,  seemed  to  be  in  need  of  his  signature.1 

Herndon,  who  had  been  accused  of  writing  the  Lamon  bio 
graphy,  was  on  his  feet  at  once,  and  never  did  his  truth-loving 
spirit  shine  more  brightly  than  in  the  midst  of  this  nauseating 
furore.  Reviled  by  pietists  for  telling  the  truth  about  the 
early  rationalism  of  Lincoln,  and  beseiged  by  crude  "free 
thinkers  ' '  who  could  not  be  made  to  see  his  growing  spiritual 
ity,  he  was  betwixt  two  fires.  The  better  to  clarify  the  air, 
he  delivered  a  lecture  in  Springfield  on  the  "Later  Life  and 
Religious  Sentiments  of  Lincoln, ' '  which,  though  somewhat  too 
combative  in  tone,  was  a  lucid  statement  of  the  truth  in  the 
case.  Had  Lincoln  held  the  orthodox  creed  Herndon  would 
have  been  the  first  to  divulge  the  fact,  and  to  defend  it;  but 
such  was  not  the  fact,  and  he  refused  to  permit  a  coterie  of 
men  to  canonize  him  in  that  faith.  Nor  did  he  credit  the  idea 
that  Lincoln,  while  harassed  by  office-seekers  at  home  and 
watching  the  gathering  chaos  at  Washington,  had  devoted  his 
time  to  an  examination  of  Christian  evidences.  No  doubt  he 
was  subdued  to  a  prayerful  mood  by  what  lay  before  him,  but 
the  cast  of  his  mind  did  not  admit  of  such  a  rapid  and  radical 
change  of  view  as  had  been  claimed.  What  Herndon  insisted 
upon  was  that  Lincoln  should  not  be  made  to  appear  other 
than  he  really  was,  and  for  this  insistence  he  deserves  the 
thanks  of  all  right-thinking  men. 

No  one  could  doubt  that  Lincoln  was  a  man  of  deep  religious 
nature,  which  had  been  refined,  as  Herndon  said,  in  "God's 
fiery  furnace,"  but  he  was  never  orthodox  in  his  views.  He 
was  in  fact  a  theist,  if  not  a  fatalist,  in  belief,  and  by  the  very 

1  Of  course  Dr.  Reed  did  not  foresee  the  wrangle  which  his  lecture 
precipitated.  No  one  knew  better  than  he  that  Christianity,  as  Emerson 
said  of  beauty,  is  its  own  excuse  for  being,  its  own  ineffable  evidence. 
If  its  humane  and  heavenly  genius  does  not  persuade  men,  neither  will 
they  be  convinced  by  a  list  of  notable  names.  If  in  his  own  mind  Dr. 
Reed  distinguished  between  the  spirit  of  Jesus  and  the  various  forms  of 
dogma,  in  his  lecture  he  did  not  make  the  distinction  clear;  and  therein 
lay  his  error.  That  familiar  distinction  clears  the  air  at  once,  and  had 
it  been  kept  in  mind  there  would  hare  been  no  haggling  over  the  religion 
of  Lincoln. 


THE  LATER  HERNDON 303 

terms  of  his  philosophy,  which  he  held  to  the  end,  he  rejected 
the  idea  of  miracles,  upon  which  orthodox  theology  rests.  Dr. 
Reed  had  made  the  mistake,  so  common  among  ministers  dur 
ing  the  life  of  Lincoln,  and  to  which  so  many  are  wont  to  cling 
to  this  day.  Misled  by  the  courteous  and  sincere  sympathy 
of  the  President  for  all  faiths  worthy  of  respect,  he  mistook 
a  native  poetic  religiousness  for  belief  in  the  dogmas  which  in 
his  own  mind  were  identified  with  religious  feeling.  Though 
a  man  of  Christ-like  spirit,  if  ever  there  was  one,  Lincoln  did 
not  accept  the  dogmas  of  the  Confessions  of  Faith.1  But 
whatever  he  thought  of  those  dogmas,  he  practiced  as  few  men 
ever  did  the  most  difficult  Christian  virtues,  even  amid  the  wild 
hell  of  war. 

After  Mr.  Zane  ascended  to  the  bench,  Mr.  Herndon  formed 
a  partnership  in  law  with  Mr.  Alfred  Orendorff  2  —  afterward 
Adjutant  General  of  Illinois  —  which  continued  for  fifteen 
years.  During  the  last  years  of  their  partnership  Herndon 
was  not  often  in  the  office  —  where  indeed  he  had  little  to  detain 
him  —  but  spent  his  time  on  his  farm,  and  in  going  hither  and 
yon  in  quest  of  new  materials  for  his  biography  of  Lincoln. 
Many  of  his  manuscripts,  written  at  this  time,  are  now  before 
me,  and  they  show  a  tireless  industry,  a  passion  of  accuracy, 
and  a  profound  reverence  for  his  old  friend  and  partner.  He 
was  happy  in  his  work,  deeply  interested  in  current  politics  — 
having  become  a  rampant  free-trader  —  with  recurring  out 
bursts  of  almost  boyish  enthusiasm.  Occasionally  he  delivered 

1  ' '  I  have  never  united  myself  to  any  church, ' '  said  Lincoln  to  H.  C. 
Deming,  ' '  because  I  have  found  difficulty  in  giving  my  assent,  without 
mental  reservation,  to  the  long,  complicated  statements  of  Christiou  doc 
trine  which  characterize  their  Articles  of  Belief  and  Confession  of  Faith. 
When  any  church  will  inscribe  over  its  altar,  as  its  sole  qualification  for 
membership,  the  Savior's  condensed  statement   of   the  substance   of  the 
Gospel,  '  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with 
all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,'  that 
church  will  I  join  with  all  my  heart  and  all  my  soul."  —  The  Inner  Life 
of  Lincoln,  by  F.  B.  Carpenter,  p.  190   (1869). 

2  General  Orendorff  was  a  brilliant  and  lovable  man,  prominent  for 
years  in  Illinois,  in  the  legal  fraternity,  in  politics,  and  in  military  circles. 
He  died  in  Springfield  in  1909. 


304 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

lectures  on  Lincoln,  one  especially  at  Petersburg,  among  the 
old  friends  of  the  dead  President,  which  was  greatly  enjoyed. 
Along  in  the  early  eighties  he  met  Jesse  "W.  Weik,  who  was 
studying  Lincoln,  and  together  they  planned  and  wrote  "the 
long  contemplated  biography,"  which  finally  appeared  in  three 
volumes  in  1889.  Much  of  the  writing  was  done  by  Mr.  Weik 
from  copious  notes  furnished  by  Mr.  Herndon,  who  was  now 
far  advanced  in  years  and  too  infirm  for  the  drudgery  of  writ 
ing  the  three  volumes.  Unfortunately  the  firm  of  Bedford  & 
Clark  failed  soon  after  the  book  appeared,  and  the  hopes  of 
Mr.  Herndon  were  all  but  dashed  to  pieces.  Besides,  he  was 
deeply  wounded  by  certain  critics  who,  though  they  had  never 
seen  Lincoln,  wrote  as  if  they  knew  more  about  him  than  the 
man  who  had  been  his  partner  for  many  years.  Cast  down  but 
not  destroyed,  he  planned  a  new  edition  of  the  biography,  and 
was  fortunate  in  securing  the  aid  of  Mr.  Horace  White  who 
wrote  a  notable  chapter  descriptive  of  the  Lincoln-Douglas 
debates.  The  new  edition,  with  important  alterations,  omis 
sions,  and  additions,  was  published  by  D.  Appleton  &  Company, 
but  alas,  as  fate  would  have  it,  Mr.  Herndon  did  not  live  to  see 
his  dream  come  true.  It  appeared  in  two  volumes  in  1892, 
with  a  brief  introduction  by  Mr.  Horace  White  in  which  we 
read  these  words,  every  syllable  of  which  is  true : 

What  Mr.  Lincoln  was  after  he  became  President  can  be 
best  understood  by  knowing  what  he  was  before.  The  world 
owes  more  to  William  H.  Herndon  for  this  particular  knowl 
edge  than  to  all  other  persons  taken  together.  It  is  no  exag 
geration  to  say  that  his  death  removed  from  earth  the  person 
who,  of  all  others,  had  most  thoroughly  searched  the  sources 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  biography  and  had  most  attentively,  intel 
ligently,  and  also  lovingly  studied  his  character.  .  .  .  Their 
partnership  began  in  1843,  and  it  continued  until  it  was 
dissolved  by  the  death  of  the  senior  member.  Between  them 
there  was  never  an  unkind  word  or  thought.  When  Mr. 
Lincoln  became  President,  Mr.  Herndon  could  have  had  his 
fortunes  materially  advanced  under  the  new  Administra 
tion  by  saying  the  word.  He  was  a  poor  man  then  and 
always,  but  he  chose  to  remain  in  his  humble  station  and  to 
earn  his  bread  by  his  daily  labor.  .  .  .  As  a  portraiture 
of  the  man  Lincoln  —  and  this  is  what  we  look  for  above  all 


JESSE  W.  WEIK 


305 


things  in  a  biography  —  I  venture  to  think  that  Mr.  Hern- 
don 's  work  will  never  be  surpassed. 

IV 

While  engaged  in  preparing  the  biography  —  without  whose 
aid  it  would  never  have  been  written  —  Mr.  Weik  came  to  know 
Mr.  Herndon  intimately  and  to  admire  him  for  his  sturdy  hon 
esty,  his  lofty  motives  and  his  passion  for  truth.  Writing  of 
Mr.  Herndon  as  he  knew  him,  Mr.  Weik  gives  the  following 
discriminating  estimate  of  the  man,  noting  at  once  his  strength 
and  his  obvious  limitations. 

My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Herndon  began  soon  after  my 
graduation  from  college  in  the  seventies.  I  had  gone  to 
Springfield  to  study  Lincoln  and  met  Herndon  for  the  first 
time  in  the  dingy  room  which  he  and  his  partner  bad  oc 
cupied  for  an  office.  From  this  time  forward  I  was  des 
tined  to  share,  to  the  end  of  his  days,  the  confidence  and 
close  association  of  this  rare  man  and  generous  friend ;  and 
shall  never  cease  to  be  thankful  for  the  affinity  that  grew 
up  between  us.  From  Herndon  I  learned  how  to  measure 
Lincoln,  to  dissect  his  moral  structure  and  analyze  his 
mental  processes.  No  other  man  ever  lived  who  knew  as 
much  about  the  immortal  Railsplitter,  who  comprehended 
him  so  thoroughly,  who  had  dug  so  deep  and  laid  bare  the 
springs  of  action,  the  motives  that  animated  his  ' '  clear  head, 
brave  heart,  and  strong  right  arm."  With  implicit  and 
almost  fanatical  devotion  Herndon  clung  to  Lincoln,  and 
we  do  not  have  to  go  far  to  find  evidence  that  the  latter, 
throughout  all  the  memorable  and  tempestuous  times  that 
made  him  great,  bared  his  heart  and  soul  to  "Billy"  Hern 
don  with  all  the  candor  and  confidence  of  a  brother. 

His  unvarying  and  inflexible  devotion  to  the  truth  was 
the  predominating  trait  in  the  character  of  William  H.  Hern 
don.  In  this  respect  he  resembled  his  illustrious  companion. 
Both  men,  up  to  a  certain  point,  were  very  much  alike.  But 
there  was  a  difference.  Lincoln,  deeply  cautious  and  re 
strained,  was  prone  to  abstract  and  thoughtful  calculation. 
Herndon,  by  nature  forceful  and  alert,  was  quick,  impulsive 
and  often  precipitate.  If  he  detected  wrong  he  proclaimed 
the  fact  instantly  and  everywhere,  never  piling  up  his  wrath 
and  strength  as  Lincoln  did  for  a  future  sweeping  and 
crushing  blow.  He  never  stopped  to  calculate  the  force, 


306 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

momentum  or  effect  of  his  opposition,  but  fought  at  the 
drop  of  a  hat,  and  fought  incessantly,  pushing  blindly 
through  the  smoke  of  battle  until  he  was  either  hopelessly 
overcome  or  stood  on  the  hill-top  of  victory.  Younger  than 
Lincoln,  he  was  more  venturesome,  more  versatile,  and 
magnificently  oblivious  of  consequences.  Conscious  of  his 
limitations  he  knew  that  he  was  too  bold,  too  extreme  to 
achieve  success  in  politics,  and  he  therefore  sunk  himself 
in  the  fortunes  of  his  more  happily  poised  partner.  .  .  . 
When,  in  the  days  yet  to  come,  the  searchlight  of  truth  is 
turned  on  the  picture,  posterity  will  be  sure  to  accept  the 
verdict  of  Herndon's  friends,  that  he  was  a  noble,  broad- 
minded,  honest  man;  incapable  of  a  mean  or  selfish  act, 
brave  and  big-hearted ;  tolerant,  forgiving,  just,  and  as  true 
to  Lincoln  as  the  needle  to  the  pole.1 

During  the  last  year  of  his  life,  while  preparing  the  second 
edition  of  his  biography  of  Lincoln,  Mr.  Herndon  wrote  fre 
quent  letters  to  Mr.  Horace  White,  who  was  assisting  him.  By 
the  kindness  of  Mr.  White  those  letters  are  now  before  me,  and 
they  are  interesting  as  so  many  glimpses  of  the  writer  in  his 
last  phase,  as  well  as  for  a  number  of  valuable  and  curious 
bibliographical  facts  which  they  reveal.  Again  and  again  he 
refers  to  the  crusade  for  tariff  reform  then  going  on,  and 
other  movements  of  contemporary  politics  in  which  he  was 
deeply  interested,  but  these  matters  may  be  omitted.  Only 
excerpts  need  be  given : 

April,  1890 :  In  reply  let  me  say  that  I  never  wrote  a  page, 
paragraph,  sentence,  or  word  for  Lamon's  Life  of  Lincoln, 
and  never  suggested  to  him  any  course  or  method  to  be  pur 
sued  in  his  book.  I  sold  to  Lamon  for  $2,000  a  copy  of  my 
manuscripts  of  the  Lincoln  records,  facts  which  I  had  gath 
ered  up  in  1870-1.  Lamon  used  my  name,  I  suppose,  to 
give  his  book  some  popularity.  If  what  facts  and  opinions 
he  got  from  me  were  stricken  out  of  his  book  there  would 
not  be  much  left  of  it,  as  I  think.  The  reason  why  Lamon 
did  not  finish  the  second  volume  was  because  of  a  three- 
cornered  fight.  Lamon  and  Black  had  a  quarrel  about  the 
book,  and  they  had  a  quarrel  with  their  publishers.  Lastly, 
Holland's  review  of  the  book,  which  was  a  mean  thing, 


1  Mss.,  prepared  by  Mr.  Weik,  July  4th,  1910. 


THE  LATER  HERNDON 307 

squelched  things  completely.  Black  lost  his  money  and  his 
time  through  the  muss. 

You  refer  me  to  Lamon,  page  396,  and  ask  if  the  para 
graph  is  true  or  false.  It  is  in  all  things  substantially  cor 
rect.  In  speaking  of  Douglas  and  the  Charleston  conven 
tion,  and  the  divided  state  of  the  Democracy  in  1859-60, 
Lincoln  often  said  to  me,  and  to  others  in  my  presence, 
substantially  this:  "The  end  is  not  yet,  but  another  ex 
plosion  must  come  in  the  near  future.  Douglas  is  a  great 
man  in  his  way  and  has  quite  unlimited  power  over  the 
great  mass  of  his  party,  especially  in  the  North.  If  he 
goes  to  the  Charleston  convention,  which  he  will  do,  he,  in  a 
spirit  of  revenge,  will  split  the  convention  wide  open  and 
give  it  the  devil;  and  right  here  is  our  future  success,  or 
rather  the  glad  hope  of  it."  By  the  way,  Lincoln  prayed 
for  this  state  of  affairs :  he  saw  in  it  opportunity  and  wisely 
played  his  line.  He  studied  the  trend  of  political  affairs, 
drew  conclusions  as  to  general  results,  and  calmly  bided 
his  time.  Lincoln  was  the  great  American  thinker  and  the 
unknown  —  at  least  to  the  mass  of  men.  He  felt  that 
Douglas  was  the  strong  man  and  that  he  must  be  put  out  of 
the  way,  politically.  He  did  not  fear  any  man  in  the 
South.  He  was  after  Douglas,  always  scheming  and  plan 
ning. 

May,  1890:  You  regret,  as  well  as  myself,  that  I  sold 
my  Mss.  to  Lamon.  The  reason  why  I  did  so  was  that  I  was 
then,  in  1870-72,  a  poor  devil  and  had  to  sell  to  live.  From 
1853  to  1865  I  spent  all  my  time  and  money  for  the  "nig 
ger,  ' '  or  rather  for  Liberty  and  the  Union  —  lost  my  prac 
tice,  went  to  farming,  and  went  under  in  the  crash  of  1871- 
3,  and  that,  too,  from  no  speculations  —  vices,  etc.  Today 
I  have  to  work  for  tomorrow 's  bread,  and  yet  I  am  a  happy 
and  contented  man.  I  own  a  little  farm  of  65  acres  and 
raise  fruits  for  a  living.  Now  you  have  the  reasons  for  my 
acts. 

In  reference  to  Lamon 's  book  I  can  say  truthfully  that 
Chauncy  F.  Black,  son  of  J.  S.  Black,  wrote  quite  every 
word  of  it.  I  infer  this  much  from  Black  himself.  He 
used  to  write  to  me  about  it.  The  publishers  struck  out  of 
it  a  whole  chapter,  or  nearly  so.  The  chapter,  as  I  under 
stand  it,  was  on  Buchanan's  Administration,  or  rather  the 
last  year  of  it.  I  think  that  act,  among  others,  created  the 
split.  I  have  for  years  been  written  to  by  various  persons 
to  know  why  Lamon  was  so  much  prejudiced  against  Lin 
coln.  The  bitterness,  if  any,  was  not  in  Lamon  so  much  as 


308 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

in  Black,  though  I  am  convinced  that  Lamon  was  no  solid, 
firm  friend  of  Lincoln,  especially  during  Lincoln's  Admin 
istration,  or  the  latter  end  of  it. 

Meanwhile  he  had  received  and  read,  with  great  delight,  the 
chapter  on  the  Lincoln-Douglas  debates  which  Horace  White 
wrote  for  the  forthcoming  edition  of  the  biography.  With  a 
sure  stroke  he  put  his  pen  upon  the  excellent  qualities  of  that 
essay,  which  is  by  far  the  best  account  ever  written  of  that 
great  campaign.  What  he  liked  best  was  its  simple,  unadorned 
style : 

Friend,  it  is  a  fine  piece  and  let  me  thank  you  a  thousand 
times  for  it.  I  am  glad  that  you  followed  the  late  historical 
methods.  I  like  your  treatment  of  Douglas.  The  fact  is 
I  once  despised  the  man  for  his  want  of  morals,  but  I  have 
forgotten  all  this  and  only  remember  his  good  points,  his 
energy  and  his  genius.  Your  piece  will  be  the  best  chapter 
in  the  life  of  Lincoln.  I  am  glad  that  it  is  just  what  it  is : 
it  is  exhaustive  of  the  subject.  You  might  have  hammered 
it  out  and  made  it  thinner  and  weaker,  but  no  poetry,  no 
adjectives,  no  superlatives  would  have  done  it  any  good. 
In  your  own  opinion  you  did  not  reach  your  ideal,  but  that 
is  natural.  Our  ideals  are  just  an  inch  beyond  our  reach. 

You  hit  Arnold  a  good  lick :  he  was  a  credulous  man  with 
out  any  critical  ability  at  all ;  his  book  contains  many  errors, 
but  it  did  not  become  me  to  say  one  word  against  Arnold 's 
book.  I  helped  him  a  good  deal  in  his  Life  of  Lincoln.  Mr. 
Arnold  is  correct,  however,  when  he  states  that  Lincoln  said, 
"I  am  fighting  for  bigger  game."  Lincoln  made  use  of  the 
expression.1  He  was  a  shrewd,  sagacious,  cunning,  far- 
seeing  man,  and  he  purposely  politically  killed  Douglas.  I 
can  see  Lincoln  now  setting  his  stakes  for  that  end. 

Yes,  Lamon 's  book  was  a  great  failure.  The  materials 
of  it  richly  deserve  a  better  fate.  I  hope  you  will  have  a 
good  time  on  your  recreation  spree.  I  wish  I  could  trip  it 
with  you.  White,  are  you  getting  rich?  I  am  as  poor  as 
Job's  turkey. 

October,  1890 :     My  ears  are  always  open  to  my  friends, 


1  Mr.  Herndon  was  not  alone  in  his  criticism  of  Mr.  Arnold's  Life 
of  Lincoln,  which,  though  an  admirable  book,  slurred  over  the  facts  about 
Lincoln's  youth. — Life  of  Lincoln,  by  J.  T.  Morse,  p.  9  (1896).  But 
Mr.  Arnold  was  one  of  the  few  biographers  of  Lincoln  who  was  just 
to  Mr.  Douglas,  perhaps  because  they  were  old  friends. 


THE  LATER  HEENDON  309 

and  I  wish  all  men  would  write  to  me  as  candidly  as  you 
have  done.  ...  I  will  write  to  General  Wilson  and  re 
quest  him  to  burn  my  Lincoln  letters  to  him.  I  have  never 
opened  to  any  person,  except  yourself  and  General  Wilson, 
the  story  of  Lincoln's  history.  My  motives  were  good  in 
doing  as  I  did.  I  wished  to  throw  light  on  the  mysterious 
phases  of  his  wonderful  life.  I  loved  Lincoln,  and  I  thought 
the  reading  world  wished  all  the  lights  I  had.  Hence  the 
facts  told  in  the  biography  and  in  private  letters.  I  may 
have  erred  in  the  head,  but  my  heart  was  right.  I  can  tell 
from  the  ring  of  your  words  that  friendship  dictated  every 
word  of  your  advice,  and  I  thank  you.  Give  my  highest 
regards  to  your  wife  and  children. 

November,  1890 :  I  have  received  a  letter  from  General 
Wilson  in  which  he  says :  "I  recognize  the  wisdom  of  your 
wishes  and  will  destroy  your  letters. "  .  .  .In  my  last  let 
ter  I  unintentionally  touched  a  tender  chord  in  your  bosom. 
Excuse  me.  I  have  passed  through  the  same  and  know  what 
the  loss  of  a  good  wife  is.  Friend,  we  can  bring  life  into 
the  world,  but  we  cannot  keep  it  here:  it  will  vanish,  we 
know  not  where,  and  this  thing  we  call  immortality,  is  it  not 
a  shadow  of  our  egotism  thrown  into  the  future  ?  It  grati 
fies  this  little  man  to  think  that  Nature  takes  providential 
care  of  him  and  destroys  all  else  for  the  sake  of  him. 

February,  1891 :  I  am  still  diligently  gathering  well- 
authenticated  facts  about  Lincoln.  Many  I  reject,  because 
they  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  fundamental  elements  of 
his  nature,  and  because  they  come  to  me  in  unauthentic 
shapes.  I  expect  to  continue  gathering  facts  about  Lincoln 
as  long  as  I  live,  and  when  I  go  hence  the  reading  world 
shall  have  my  Mss.  unchanged,  unaltered,  just  as  I  took 
them  down.  I  think  that  they  will  be  of  value  to  mankind 
sometime.  I  have  been  at  this  business  since  1865.  Every 
day  I  think  of  some  fact,  and  it  suggests  other  facts.  The 
human  mind  is  a  curious  thing.  I  have  been  sick  all  winter. 

One  month  later,  on  March  14,  1891,  Mr.  Herndon  died  at  his 
humble  home  on  his  farm  five  miles  from  Springfield,  his  last 
words  being:  "I  have  received  my  summons;  I  am  an  over 
ripe  sheaf ;  but  I  will  take  the  weaker  one  with  me  "  —  referring 
to  his  son,  who  died  the  same  day.  So  passed  an  ardent, 
impetuous  man  of  great  native  ability,  radical  of  mind  but 
lovable  of  soul;  a  strong  man  whose  zeal  often  exceeded  his 
wisdom,  but  whose  charity  was  unfailing;  a  man  of  noble 


310  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

integrity  as  a  citizen,  a  lawyer,  and  a  friend;  unwilling  to 
compromise  truth,  yet  eager  to  give  every  man  his  due.  He 
has  been  cruelly  misjudged,  if  not  foully  belied,  but  all  this 
may  be  forgotten,  for  he  has  passed 

' '  To  where,  beyond  these  voices,  there  is  peace. ' ' 


CHAPTER  X 

Herndon's  Lincoln 

Lincoln  literature  is  enormous.  To  attain  the  rank  of  an  ex 
pert  in  this  field  means  years  of  toil,  but  one  who  is  not  an 
expert  may  hazard  the  opinion  that,  in  spite  of  all  that  has 
been  written,  we  yet  lack  a  thoroughly  satisfactory  book  about 
the  life  and  work  and  character  of  Lincoln.1  Some  few  have 
had  the  necessary  knowledge  and  sympathy,  but  their  literary 
power  was  inadequate.  Others  have  written  well,  but  they 
have  failed  of  understanding.  Many  of  the  books  about  Lin 
coln  are  worthless,  some  are  valuable,  a  few  are  notable,  but 
an  adequate  record  and  estimate  of  that  remarkable  man  is 
among  the  things  awaited.  So  far  no  writer  of  the  first  order 
has  attempted  to  recite  that  strange  yet  simple  story.  No  one 
has  done  for  Lincoln  what  Morley  did  for  Gladstone,  either 
because  we  have  so  few  literary  statesmen,  or  because  the  time 
has  not  arrived. 

In  the  meantime  the  volume  of  facts,  impressions,  and  rem 
iniscences  of  Lincoln  increases,  and  through  an  assembling 
of  items  in  a  variety  of  ways  we  are  coming  to  a  composite 
conception  of  the  man  that  is  at  once  vivid  and  satisfying. 
That  so  many  have  written  of  him  is  a  tribute  to  his  hold  upon 
the  affections  of  men,  for  it  has  not  fallen  to  his  lot  to  become 

i  Perhaps  the  mass  of  Lincoln  literature  would  number  5,000  items, 
which  of  course  includes  many  pamphlets  —  a  veritable  paradise  for 
collectors.  —  Lincoln  in  1854,  by  Horace  White,  pp.  22-3  (1908).  What 
is  here  said  is  not  intended  to  belittle  any  biographer  or  student  of 
Lincoln,  but  surely  no  one  will  claim  that  the  final  biography  of  him 
has  been  written.  Probably  the  best  brief  biographies  are  those  by 
Hapgood,  Morse,  and  Binns,  in  the  order  named.  It  is  matter  for  regret 
that  Henry  Watterson  did  not  finish  his  biography  of  Lincoln,  which  no 
doubt  would  have  been  a  memorable  volume.  He  had  gone  abroad  to 
write  it,  but  was  called  home  by  the  exigences  of  the  campaign  of  1896. 


312 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

a  mere  statue  in  the  hall  of  memory,  but  to  remain  warmly 
human,  almost  as  if  he  had  lived  on  through  the  years;  and 
happily  no  artist  has  ironed  all  the  human  wrinkles  out  of  his 
rugged,  homely  face.  But  we  need  a  really  great  biography 
of  Lincoln,  whose  pages,  while  portraying  the  development  of 
his  life,  shall  be  invested  with  the  atmosphere  of  his  personal 
ity;  and  for  such  a  work  the  canvass,  the  colors,  and  the 
cleared  light  of  time  are  ready  for  the  touch  of  a  master  hand. 


As  to  the  Herndon  biography,  it  is  worth  while  to  study  its 
spirit,  purpose,  and  methods,  if  for  no  other  reason,  to  learn 
his  conception  of  a  man  whom  he  had  studied  for  forty  years.1 
Had  he  written  it  in  1886,  as  he  had  planned  to  do,  perhaps  it 
would  have  had  more  fire  in  it,  more  of  the  glow  and  color  of 
that  strange  personality  which  swayed  him,  at  times,  like  a 
religious  experience.  Misfortune,  however,  prevented  him, 
and  much  of  his  materials  went  into  other  books.  Despite 
this  loss,  he  gained  much  by  a  longer  perspective  and  a  calmer 
vision,  though  he  never  passed  from  under  that  "long-endur 
ing  spell,"  no  matter  how  hard  he  tried  to  free  himself  from 
it,  as  he  thought  he  must  do,  in  behalf  of  a  more  unbiased  judg 
ment.  Many  of  the  manuscript  notes  from  which  the  bio 
graphy  was  written  are  before  me,  and  they  show  how  fresh 
the  great  memory  was  upon  him,  how  carefully  he  sought  to 
describe  it,  how  eager  he  was  to  be  just,  how  patiently  he 

1  Of  the  biographies  published  during  his  lifetime,  Mr.  Herndon  re 
garded  that  by  Lamon  as,  on  the  whole,  the  truest,  though  he  was  aware 
of  its  grave  defects  (Ms.  "Statement:  a  Memorandum,  Jan.,  1886").  Hol 
land  was  too  romantic,  Arnold  too  credulous,  while  Nicolay  and  Hay 
glossed  over  many  things  in  the  early  life  of  Lincoln.  He  followed  the 
Nicolay-Hay  series  in  the  Century,  and  his  verdict  was  that  ' '  the  boys, ' ' 
us  he  called  them  —  for  such  they  were  to  him  —  had  done  good  work, 
though  some  of  their  theories  amused  him  (Ms.  letters  to  Mr.  Weik,  Jan., 
]887).  He  was  a  generous  critic,  however,  knowing  how  hard  it  was  to 
explain  Lincoln;  that  is,  when  any  student  was  sincerely  trying  to  know 
the  truth.  But  for  some  others  he  had  no  mercy,  and  asked  none. 


HEBNDON'S  LINCOLN 313 

labored  to  be  accurate.  When  the  first  edition  appeared  in 
1889,  the  Atlantic  Monthly  said  in  an  excellent  review : 

We  think  we  are  not  mistaken  in  looking  upon  Herndon's 
Lincoln  as  a  most  timely  and  valuable  contribution  to  a 
just  understanding  of  that  great  man,  even  though  much 
of  it  in  a  preliminary  form  appears  to  have  found  place 
originally  in  Lamon's  Life.  Considered  only  as  a  memoire 
pour  sevoir,  it  is  of  unmistakable  service.  It  bears  the 
marks  of  patient  and  painstaking  labor  in  gathering  all  the 
facts  regarding  Lincoln 's  origin  and  early  years ;  and  when 
the  reader  considers  that  Mr.  Herndon  was  Lincoln's  law 
partner  for  twenty  years ;  that  he  made  his  acquaintance  as 
far  back  as  1837 ;  that  he  lived  amongst  Lincoln 's  early 
companions,  and,  so  to  speak,  spoke  the  Illinois  language, 
it  is  easy  to  see  how  important  may  be  his  testimony.  In 
addition,  the  open-minded  reader  can  scarcely  read  this  art 
less  book  without  feeling  a  growing  confidence  in  Mr.  Hern 
don's  honesty  and  accuracy.  The  very  offenses  against 
good  taste  show  him  to  be  a  good  witness,  and  it  has  many 
charms  for  cultivated  readers  through  the  very  homeliness 
of  its  narrative.  To  any  one  who  wishes  to  know  the  truth 
about  Lincoln,  at  whatever  cost  to  illusions,  this  book  is 
invaluable  and  suggestive. 

No  one  knew  better  than  Mr.  Herndon  that  he  was  not  the  man 
to  write  the  final  biography  of  Lincoln.  He  lacked,  as  he 
frankly  confessed,  the  necessary  literary  skill  for  such  an 
undertaking,  caring  "less  for  the  composition  than  for  the 
solid  substance;"  but  he  recognized  the  obligation  upon  him 
to  furnish  the  raw  material  from  which  some  future  artist 
might  evoke  a  work  of  beauty.  His  idea  was  that  the  real 
Lincoln  should  be  portrayed  just  as  he  was  in  life,  struggle, 
and  growth,  without  idealization  or  degradation,  full  length, 
no  fact  omitted,  no  angle  smoothed  away.  If  in  his  own  record 
he  stood  so  straight  that  he  leaned  a  little  backward,  it  was 
characteristic  of  a  man  to  whom  Lincoln  was  too  great,  too 
honest,  and  too  noble  for  mere  eulogy,  and  who  was  certain 
that  "the  more  truth  we  know  about  him  the  more  he  will  be 
honored  and  loved."  Surely  this  was  a  truer  tribute  than 
the  portrayal  of  an  ideally  impossible  or  impossibly  ideal  Lin- 


314 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

coin  would  have  been,  though  certain  lady-like  persons  were 
sorely  grieved. 

As  it  is,  no  one  need  prepare  a  brief  in  vindication  of  Mr. 
Herndon  and  his  work  —  nor  is  this  study  such  a  defense,  for 
his  frailties  have  been  recorded  here  alongside  his  virtues,  just 
as  he  would  have  them  stand.  Every  year  Time,  greatest  of  all 
critics,  justifies  him  by  displacing  the  idol  and  setting  up  the 
man  Lincoln,  and  the  Lincoln  whom  the  world  knows  and 
loves  to-day  is  the  Lincoln  whom  Herndon  knew  and  loved. 
If  his  portrait  startled  at  first,  it  was  not  for  long,  as  the  dis 
cerning  soon  saw  that  Lincoln  was  the  greater  for  the  peccadil 
loes  his  friend  had  pointed  out.  Herndon  kept  ever  in  mind 
the  words  of  Lincoln  in  1858,  when,  after  trying  to  read  the 
Life  of  Edmund  Burke,  he  threw  it  aside  and  said : 

No,  I  've  read  enough  of  it.  It 's  like  all  the  others.  Biogra 
phies  as  generally  written  are  not  only  misleading,  but 
false.  The  author  of  this  life  of  Burke  makes  a  wonderful 
hero  out  of  his  subject.  He  magnifies  his  perfections  — 
if  he  had  any  —  and  suppresses  his  imperfections.  He  is 
so  faithful  in  his  zeal  and  so  lavish  in  praise  of  his  every 
act  that  one  is  almost  driven  to  believe  that  Burke  never 
made  a  mistake  or  a  failure  in  his  life.  Billy,  I  Ve  wondered 
why  book  publishers  and  merchants  don't  have  blank  bio 
graphies  on  their  shelves,  always  ready  for  an  emergency; 
so  that,  if  a  man  happens  to  die,  his  heirs  or  his  friends,  if 
they  wish  to  perpetuate  his  memory,  can  purchase  one  al 
ready  written,  but  with  blanks.  These  blanks  they  can  at 
their  pleasure  fill  up  with  rosy  sentences  full  of  high-sound 
ing  praise.  In  most  instances  they  commemorate  a  lie,  and 
cheat  posterity  out  of  the  truth.  History  is  not  history  un 
less  it  is  the  truth. 

Like  all  human  beings  Herndon  made  errors,  both  of  fact  and 
of  taste,  but  he  remembered  the  words  of  Lincoln  and  tried  to 
follow  them  literally.  Time  did  not  dim  the  great  memory, 
but  it  made  him  analytical,  and  in  his  effort  to  explain  Lincoln 
it  was  inevitable  that  he  should  form  certain  theories,  and  as 
inevitable  that  he  should  cling  to  them  somewhat  tenaciously. 
But  even  his  theories  are  interesting  and  valuable,  as  showing 
what  qualities  in  Lincoln  most  impressed  him,  and  what  qual- 


HERNDON'S  LINCOLN  315 

ities,  if  any,  he  failed  to  read  aright.  Very  wisely  he  confined 
himself  to  the  personal  life  of  Lincoln,  though,  if  we  may  judge 
from  his  letters  to  Senator  Trumbull,1  he  at  one  time  intended 
to  treat  of  his  official  life  as  well.  But  for  that  task  he  was  not 
fitted,  and  happily  that  field  had  been  repeatedly  covered  be 
fore  his  long-delayed  volumes  appeared.  Others  may  describe 
the  personal,  social,  domestic,  and  office  life  of  Lincoln  with 
more  artistic  touch,  but  as  an  analysis  of  the  intellectual  traits 
and  moral  character  of  his  partner  the  work  of  Herndon  can 
never  be  superseded. 

Despite  its  obvious  crudities,  its  lack  of  proportion,  and  its 
emphasis  upon  matters  which  might  have  been  given  less  space, 
the  Herndon  biography  has  undeniable  charms  which  even  the 
most  obdurate  critic  must  admire.  For  one  thing,  the  modesty 
of  the  author  must  impress  the  reader  from  the  first  line  to  the 
last.  Indeed,  it  is  almost  a  defect  of  the  book  that  Mr.  Hern 
don  kept  himself  too  much  in  the  background,  leaving  out 
many  charming  details  of  his  fellowship  with  Lincoln  for  fear 
of  seeming  to  exploit  himself.2  Others  —  Whitney,  for  in 
stance  —  who  were  far  less  intimate  with  Lincoln,  paraded 
their  association  with  him  in  a  manner  to  disgust  Herndon, 
who  did  not  wish  to  ride  into  fame  on  the  coat-tail  of  his  part 
ner.3  There  was,  besides,  a  special  reason  for  hiding  himself 
in  this  book,  since  Lamon,  to  his  amazement,  had  shown  him  in 

1  Ms.  letters  to  Senator  Trumbull,  Jan.  11,  1866,  Aug.  16,  1866.     The 
questions  he  asked  Senator  Trumbull  show  that  he  did  not  know  the  life 
cf  Lincoln  in  the  White  House  with  sufficient  detail  to  make  a  record 
of   it. 

2  For  example :   when  Lincoln  sued  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  for 
a  fee  of  $5,000  he  telegraphed  to  Herndon  to  remain  in  the  office  until 
his  train  arrived  that  night.      At  last  he  came  in  with  the  money  and 
counted  out  Herndon 's  half;  but  when  Herndon  started  to  take  it  Lin 
coln   stopped   him,   and   said:    "Hold    on,    Billy;    how   often   have   you 
stretched  yourself  on  that  sofa  and  discoursed  of  how  the  corporations 
are  strangling  the  life  out  of  this  nation?     This  is  corporation  money!  " 
Notwithstanding  the  peril  of  the  country,  Herndon  took  the  money. 

s  He  even  hesitated  to  lecture  on  Lincoln,  lest  it  be  thought  that  he 
was  trading  upon  the  name  of  his  partner;  and  for  the  same  reason  it 
almost  broke  his  heart  to  have  to  sell  copies  of  his  Lincoln  records. 


316 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

the  light  of  a  teacher  and  leader  of  Lincoln,  intimating,  repeat 
edly,  that  he  had  by  persistence  and  strategy  converted  his 
partner  to  anti-slavery  faith  and  feeling.  Hence  the  frequent 
protests  of  Herndon  that  he  was  not  conscious  of  ever  having 
influenced  Lincoln  in  the  slightest  degree ;  which  was  an  ex 
aggeration,  for  two  such  strong  men  could  not  work  together 
for  so  many  years  and  not  be  influenced  by  such  fellowship 
and  contact.  But  the  real  reason  for  his  modesty  was  of  a 
piece  with  his  life  of  self-effacement  in  behalf  of  his  partner 
and  friend,  whose  greatness  he  divined  from  the  first  and 
whose  interest  and  fame  he  sought  to  serve. 

Even  the  casual  reader  must  note  the  absence  of  mawkish 
sentiment  in  the  Herndon  record,  in  contrast  with  the  half- 
pitying  tone  of  others  who  dwell  upon  the  early  environment 
of  Lincoln.  Herndon  knew  that  primitive  environment,  it  had 
enwrapped  his  own  life,  and  therefore  he  did  not  sentimentalize 
about  it.  If  the  life  of  the  pioneer  had  its  hardships  and  haz 
ard,  it  had  also  its  compensations.  When  Nicolay  and  Hay, 
in  trying  to  explain  the  melancholy  of  Lincoln,  said  that  the 
pioneers  were  a  lonely,  unsocial  folk  who  never  smiled,  Hern 
don  wished  that  they  might  have  attended  some  of  the  corn- 
huskings,  log-rollings,  hoe-dowrn  dances,  musters,  elections, 
and  camp-meetings  of  the  olden  times.1  They  would  have  seen, 
instead,  a  jovial,  smiling,  rollicking  people,  quite  unlike  the 
lonely,  shadow-haunted  pioneers  of  imagination.  Nor  did 
Herndon  indulge  in  saccharine  slaverings  over  the  early  priva 
tions  of  Lincoln,  as  though  that  strong,  self-reliant  youth, 
whose  lot  was  not  more  forlorn  than  that  of  many  another  lad 
of  his  day,  were  an  object  of  pity.  No  doubt  the  tempera 
mental  melancholy  of  Lincoln  evoked  sympathy,  as  his  charac 
ter  invited  confidence,  but  of  all  men  he  was  the  last  to  desire 
the  sympathy  of  his  fellows.  Of  this  matter,  as  of  some  others 
to  be  noted,  Mr.  Herndon  wrote  with  more  point  in  his  manu 
script  notes  than  in  his  printed  record.  Thus : 

Men  who  do  not  know  Lincoln  and  never  did,  have  paraded 
his  hardships  and  struggles  in  his  early  days  in  glowing,  or 


Ms.  letter  to  J.  W.  Weik,  Jan.,  1887. 


HERNDON  >S  LINCOLN 317 

sad,  words.  Such  a  description  of  the  man  is  not  exactly 
true.  He  never  saw  a  day  that  he  did  not  have  many 
friends  who  vied  with  each  other  for  the  pleasure  of  assisting 
him  financially,  and  in  all  ways.  Lincoln  deserved  all  this 
confidence  and  respect:  he  was  all  honor  and  integrity, 
spoke  the  whole  truth  and  acted  it.  Like  all  boys  in  the 
great  West  and  elsewhere,  he  had  to  study  in  order  to  learn. 
Life  was  comparatively  easy  in  his  case,  as  compared  with 
the  struggles  of  other  ambitious  young  men.  Lincoln  was 
the  favorite  of  everybody,  man,  woman  and  child,  where  he 
lived  and  was  known,  and  he  richly  deserved  it.  But  gen 
erally  he  rejected  all  help,  his  motto  being  that  those  who 
receive  favors  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude,  and  are  to  that  ex 
tent  slaves.1 

Lincoln,  as  Herndon  knew  him,  was  not  only  self-reliant,  but 
self-dependent  to  a  degree  that  amazed  and  baffled  his  friends. 
Considerate  of  others,  ready  to  listen  to  advice,  he  was  yet  suf 
ficient  unto  himself,  having  his  resources  within  his  own  na 
ture.  Frank  and  genial  up  to  a  certain  point,  he  was  one  of 
the  most  reticent  of  men,  keeping  his  own  counsel,  so  that 
Leonard  Swett  said,  with  some  impatience,  "You  cannot  tell 
what  Lincoln  is  going  to  do,  until  he  does  it."  Hence  the 
difficulty  of  describing  him,  and  the  reason  for  so  many  fail 
ures  to  do  so.  Even  Herndon,  whose  intuition  was  almost 
feminine  in  its  divination,  was  often  puzzled.  Naturally  he 
was  impatient  with  those  glib  writers  who  imagined  that,  be 
cause  the  ideas  of  Lincoln  and  his  mode  of  expressing  them 
were  so  simple,  his  character  and  mental  processes  were  easy 
of  analysis.  Such,  however,  was  not  the  fact,  and  it  empha 
sizes  the  utter  worthlessness  of  much  that  has  been  written 
about  him.  If  Herndon  often  fails  to  reach  the  lonely  inner 
life  of  his  partner,  hidden  within  so  many  folds  of  reserve, 
he  at  least  leaves  us  with  a  sense  of  wonder.  Speaking  of  the 
work  of  Nicolay  and  Hay,  in  which  he  found  much  to  com 
mend,  he  said  : 

They  tell  a  good  truth  when  they  state  that  "Lincoln  re 
ceived  everybody's  confidence  and  rarely  gave  his  own  in 
return. ' '  That  is  emphatically  Lincoln.  Again,  the  ' '  boys ' ' 


Ms.  essay  written  for  C.  O.  Poole,  Jan.,  1886. 


318 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

—  I  use  the  word  ' '  boys  "  in  a  respectful  sense  —  state  an 
other  fact,  namely,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  great  individuality 
which  he  never  sank  in  the  mob.     His  individualism  stood 
out  from  the  mass  of  men  like  a  lone  cliff  over  the  plain  be 
low.     Again  they  say  that  Lincoln  had  great  dignity,  and 
that  is  the  truth.     He  was  a  very  plain  man  and,  to  a  cer 
tain  point,  of  easy  approach  —  quite  democratic  and  social 

—  but  beyond  a  certain  ring  of  self-respect,  of  reserve, 
which  surrounded  and  guarded  his  person,  no  man  ever 
dared  to  go  without  a  silent  but  powerful  rebuff.     He  would 
be  cheerful  and  chatty,  social  and  communicative,  tell  his 
stories  and  laugh,  and  yet  you  could  see,  if  you  had  any  per 
ception,  that  Lincoln's  soul  was  not  present:  it  was  in  an 
other  sphere.     He  was  with  you  and  he  was  not  with  you ; 
familiar  with  you  and  yet  kept  you  at  a  distance.     He  was 
an  abstracted  man,  and  few  knew  him.  .  .  .  This  explains 
why  Holland  never  found  out  anything  while  here  gather 
ing  facts ;  and  it  further  explains  why  there  was  such  a  dis 
agreement  among  the  citizens  of  Springfield  as  to  the  nature 
and  characteristics  of  Lincoln.1     Few  knew  the  man,  and 
the  many  were  ignorant ;  hence  the  confusion.     Lincoln  was 
a  reticent,  secretive,  incommunicable  man.     I  have  seen  and 
felt  this  in  him  a  thousand  times.     He  lived  a  pure  and 
lofty  life  —  this  I  know  —  and  in  his  practical  life  he  was 
spiritual.2 

None  the  less  Herndon  knew  Lincoln  as  no  one  else  ever  knew 
him,  and  he  has  portrayed  him  as  far  as  one  man  can  ever  reveal 
another.  He  had  seen  him  grow  in  the  midst  of  the  years,  from 
an  awkward,  impetuous  youth  to  a  man  of  intellectual  nobility 
and  spiritual  refinement  —  tested  by  trial,  softened  by  sorrow, 
hardened  by  difficulty,  baffled  by  defeat,  sobered  by  victory. 
He  knew  the  strength  of  the  man  and  his  limitations,  the  qual 
ity  of  his  intellect,  the  integrity  of  his  conscience,  the  kindness 
of  his  heart;  the  cast  of  his  thought,  and  his  sombre  outlook 
upon  life;  his  humor  and  his  pathos,  his  prudence  and  his 
practical  sagacity.  He  had  known  and  felt  these  qualities 
when  they  were  young  together,  and  he  never  ceased  to  admire 
them.  Yet  there  was  that  in  Lincoln  which  always  eluded 

iLife  of  Lincoln,  by  J.  G.  Holland,  pp.  240-42   (1866). 
2  Ms.  letter  to  Jesse  W.  Weik,  Feb.,  1887. 


HEBNDON'S  LINCOLN 319 

him,  an  indefinable  and  uncapturable  something  which  cast 
over  him,  as  it  casts  over  us,  a  mysterious  and  haunting  spell. 

II 

One  would  rather  leave  out  of  account  the  debated  questions  in 
volved  in  the  Herndon  record.  Yet  so  much  ado  has  been 
made  over  them,  and  so  much  more  injustice  has  been  done  to 
Herndon  than  he  ever  did  to  the  memory  of  his  partner,  that 
some  notice  must  be  taken  of  them,  unpleasant  as  such  a  task 
may  be.  There  are  two  such  questions,  but  it  must  be  said  that 
neither  of  them  is  the  real  basis  of  the  absurd  prejudice  against 
Mr.  Herndon,  which  ought  long  ago  to  have  vanished.  The 
real  reason  for  the  feeling  against  him  was  his  refusal  to  per 
mit  Lincoln  to  be  "canonized  as  a  Calvinistic  saint;"  and  that 
he  was  right  in  this  is  not  open  to  debate.  That  he  made  one 
unhappy  blunder  of  taste,  and  of  fact,  all  now  admit ;  but  sure 
ly,  after  the  foregoing  pages,  all  must  see  that  it  was  an  error 
of  the  head  and  not  of  the  heart.  No  one  can  any  longer  doubt 
that  it  was  his  zeal  for  the  truth  at  any  cost  that  misled  him, 
and  a  virtue  so  rare  in  a  biographer  should  condone  some  of 
fenses. 

As  is  well  known,  the  head  and  front  of  his  offending  had  to 
do  with  the  ancestry  of  Lincoln,  so  long  veiled  in  obscurity. 
Without  trying  to  excuse  Mr.  Herndon  for  any  blunder  he 
may  have  made,  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  it  was  not  his  error  at 
all.  The  confusion  of  facts  was  due  to  a  mistake  of  Lincoln 
himself,  who  remained  all  his  life  ignorant  of  his  own  pedigree, 
thinking  that  he  was  born  out  of  wedlock  and  of  an  ancestry 
of  which  he  had  no  reason  to  be  proud.  Hence  the  silence  and 
sadness  which  enshrouded  him  when  the  subject  was  mentioned, 
and  a  significant  reserve  in  speaking  of  his  origin.  Only  once 
did  he  speak  of  it  to  Mr.  Herndon : 

It  was  about  1850,  when  he  and  I  were  driving  in  his  one- 
horse  buggy  to  the  court  in  Menard  County,  Illinois.  The 
suit  we  were  going  to  try  was  one  in  which  we  were  likely, 
either  directly  or  collaterally,  to  touch  upon  the  subject  of 
heredity  traits.  During  the  ride  he  spoke,  for  the  first  time 
in  my  hearing,  of  his  mother,  dwelling  on  her  characteristics, 


320  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

and  mentioning  or  enumerating  what  qualities  he  inherited 
from  her.  He  said,  among  other  things,  that  she  was  the 
daughter  of  Lucy  Hanks  and  a  well-bred  but  obscure  Vir 
ginia  farmer  or  planter ;  and  he  argued  that  from  this  last 
source  came  his  power  of  analysis,  his  logic,  his  mental  activ 
ity,  his  ambition,  and  all  the  qualities  that  distinguished  him 
from  the  other  members  and  descendants  of  the  Hanks  fam 
ily.1 

Both  men  held  the  theory  —  still  an  article  of  faith  to  many  — 
that  the  divine  fire  of  genius  is  kindled  in  the  name  of  unlaw 
ful  love.  Of  course  Lincoln  did  not  apply  the  theory  to  him 
self,  since  he  was  not  vain  enough  to  imagine  that  he  was  a 
genius ;  but  Herndon  applied  it  to  him,  and  found  in  it  a  clew 
to  the  mysterious  man  by  his  side.  Another  mistake  by  Lin 
coln  in  1860  added  to  the  confusion.  To  J.  L.  Scripps,  who 
came  to  Springfield  to  get  from  him  the  facts  for  a  sketch  of 
his  life,  he  said  that  his  father  and  mother  were  married  in 
Hardin  County,  Kentucky.2  Scripps  afterwards  said,  "He 
communicated  some  facts  to  me  concerning  his  ancestry,  which 
he  did  not  wish  to  have  published  then,  and  which  I  have  never 
alluded  to  before."3  After  a  diligent  search  at  Eli/abeth- 
town,  the  county-seat  of  Hardin  County,  no  record  of  the  mar 
riage  was  found ;  and  no  one  need  be  told  that  such  a  discrep 
ancy  would  occasion  all  sorts  of  campaign  gossip,  especially  at 
a  time  when  the  swarm  of  lies  was  blacker  than  usual.  When, 
in  1865,  Mr.  Herndon  went  to  look  into  the  matter  for  himself 
he  found  no  record,  and  was  assured  that  there  had  been  no 
marriage  at  all :  so  he  concluded  that  Lincoln,  like  Alexander 
Hamilton,  had  been  born  out  of  wedlock.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  see, 

1  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  I,  p.  3.     No  doubt 
liis  error  was  due  to  the  fact  that  his  mother,  when  a  little  girl,  was 
sent  to  live  with  her  uncle  and  aunt,  Thomas  and  Betsy  Sparrow.     As 
she  did  not  remember  her  own  parents,  it  is  probable  that  gossip  found 
in  this  fact  a  hook  upon  which  to  hang  its  tale.     The  fantastic  Dennis 
Hanks,  who  lived  in  the  same  home,  added  his  part  to  the  fiction;   but 
his  yarns  would  never  bear  cross-examination. 

2  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  J.  L.  Scripps,  New  YorTc  Tribune  Tracts,  No. 
6,  p.  1  (1860). 

3  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Vol.  I,  p.  2   (1892). 


HERNDON 'S  LINCOLN  321 

with  such  a  state  of  facts  before  him,  how  he  was  so  much  at 
fault,  though,  upon  the  advice  of  Horace  White,  he  removed  all 
hint  of  it  from  the  second  edition  of  his  biography.  That  is  the 
sum  of  the  matter  so  far  as  Mr.  Herndon  had  anything  to  do 
with  it. 

Shortly  after  Herndon 's  death  the  error  was  cleared  by  the 
discovery  that  Lincoln  was  mistaken,  and  that  his  parents  were 
married  in  Washington  County,  where  the  record  is  still  in 
tact.1  But  Lincoln  himself  died  without  knowing  that  he  was 
born  not  only  in  honest  and  pure  wedlock,  but  of  an  ancestry 
of  which  he  could  have  no  need  to  be  ashamed.  Historically, 
it  would  not  matter  who  were  his  parents,  any  more  than  it 
matters  that  he  whom  the  late  English  king  rejoiced  to  call  his 
progenitor  was  a  bastard ;  for  Lincoln  is  honored  for  what  he 
was  and  for  what  he  did,  and  it  would  be  so  in  spite  of  any  lack 
of  records  as  to  his  origin.  But  all  good  men  and  women  re 
joice  that  no  shadow  rests  upon  the  grave  of  the  hapless,  sad- 
hearted  Nancy  Hanks,  who  gave  us  Lincoln  and  never  knew 
how  great  a  gift  he  was  to  his  country  and  his  race. 

Of  the  second  point  in  dispute  little  need  be  said,  as  the 
record  of  Mr.  Herndon  has  not  been  shaken,  though  in  his  re 
markable  description  of  the  scene  he  might  have  left  something 
to  the  imagination.  That  the  engagement  of  Lincoln  and 
Mary  Todd  was  abruptly  broken  off  on  "the  fatal  1st  of  Janu 
ary,"  1841,  not  without  chagrin  and  shame  on  both  sides,  no 
one  denies.  Every  known  fact  confirms  it ;  every  boot-heel  of 
circumstantial  evidence  stamps  it  as  true.  There  are  those 
who  deny,  however,  that  it  occurred  in  the  manner  described, 
and  after  the  supposed  error  of  Herndon  in  the  matter  of  an 
cestry  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  convict  him  of  error,  if  not 
of  falsehood,  here.2  But  the  effort  is  in  vain,  and  the  facts 

1  Credit  for  this  vindication  of   the  good  name  of  Nancy  Hanks  is 
due  to  Mrs.   Hobart  Vawter,  Mrs.   Caroline  Hitchcock,   and  Mr.   Henry 
Watterson.  —  Nancy  Hanks,  by  Caroline  Hitchcock  (1900).' 

2  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  Ida  M.  Tarbell,  Vol.  I,  pp.  174-78   (1900).     It 
is   strange   that   Miss   Tarbell   should   try   to   brand   Mr.    Herndon    as   a 
liar  and  a  forger,  and  that,  too,  upon  testimony  so  flimsy  that  it  hardly 
deserves  notice.     Those  whom  she  brings  forward  to  disprove  the  inci- 


322  LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 

must  stand  as  he  stated  them.  Lincoln,  torn  by  we  know  not 
what  morbid  memories  and  misgivings,  failed  to  appear  on  the 
wedding  night,  and  for  the  second  time  in  his  life  walked  on 
the  verge  of  insanity.  Nor  is  this  incident  more  strange  than 
some  others  in  a  life  which  had  in  it  more  of  mystery  than  that 
of  any  other  man  of  recent  times. 

While  Herndon  was  correct  as  to  his  facts,  his  inference 
from  them  was  nothing  short  of  absurd.  That  the  proud,  high- 
spirited  Mary  Todd  held  fast  to  so  forlorn  a  lover  for  revenge, 
is  hardly  less  believable  than  the  legend  that  she  foresaw  his 
future  distinction.  Perhaps,  though,  Herndon  was  not  far 
from  right  when  he  argued  that  if  Lincoln  had  married  Ann 
Rutledge,  or  some  other  gentle  country  girl,  he  would  not  now 
be  known  to  fame.  "While  not  lazy,  he  was  disposed  to  loaf, 
and  needed  the  prodding  of  his  gifted  and  aspiring  wife.  For 
the  rest,  it  is  enough  to  say  that  while  marriage  between  two 
so  utterly  unlike  was  rendered  exceptionally  difficult,  it  cer 
tainly  was  not  one  from  which  love  was  absent.  As  with 
Thomas  and  Jane  Carlyle,  they  probably  understood  each 
other  far  better  than  any  one  else  understood  either  of  them, 
and  neither  was  free  from  fault.  If  Lincoln  suffered  much 
from  her  outbursts  of  temper,  over  which  she  seemed  to  have 
no  control,  Herndon  thought  that  she  had  more  to  endure  from 
a  man  so  abstracted,  so  oblivious  of  social  arts,  and  so  unskilled 
in  weaving  "those  little  links  which  make  up  the  chain  of 
woman 's  happiness. "  It  is  a  severe  test  of  a  man  to  have  his 
private  life  laid  bare,  and  there  is  always  the  question  of  taste 
in  making  such  disclosures.  But  since  it  has  been  done,  it 
is  but  just  to  record  that  Lincoln  did  not  fail  of  the  patience 
and  tenderness  required  by  the  conditions  of  his  home. 

dent  were  none  of  them  present.  Over  against  them  is  the  plain  state 
ment  of  Mrs.  Ninian  Edwards,  the  sister  of  the  bride,  in  whose  home 
the  wedding  was  to  be  celebrated :  ' '  Lincoln  and  Mary  were  engaged ; 
everything  was  ready  and  prepared  for  the  marriage,  even  to  the  supper. 
Lincoln  failed  to  meet  his  engagement.  Cause,  insanity!"  —  Life  of 
Lincoln,  by  W.  H.  Lamon,  p.  240  (1872).  Nor  did  Mr.  Herndon  in 
vent  this  statement,  as  Miss  Tarbell  intimates.  Whatever  may  have  been 
his  failings,  he  was  not  a  liar. 


Of  course,  the  w 
privacy  which  ought  a  w-,xj>  j? 
but  Lincoln,  like  O&rivi*.  *s»*  t*,1, 
Herndon,  as  he  assorts-  ••*    *»*.  .* 
cords  the  facts  with  iiu-.r- 
W«K  s*.fi  al»out  her  on  this  score  c 
n*v«r  popular  as  ''the  first  Jady  < 
reason  why  her  unfortunate  trait 
neglect  of  others  which  were  & 
• 


m  2  .'van. 

for  rebuke.2 

Ill 

ki8L  /IL  >i(Kr/iiiiiIl  .H 
don.  and  thoy  »;.«',  »*  rrs^ntion.  i 

able  alike  for  swiftness  of  stroke  and  vivid»-x^ 
amples  are  mam-,  guch  UK  the  picture  ot  th«  - 
184.1,  of  th«  iv5«pd«r  trial*,  of  Lincoln  the  «t/ 
!Ugton  convention  in  1; 
ory  at  the  beginning  of  th 
kind.  But  surely  his  ire 
us  a  inai>,  his  figure. 

:.i«'.h  appeare-1 


L'<;e,  by  Horace  Or*«k'j    j.    1 
by  1.   N.  Araoi«:l,  pp.  43/>  "»0 
Mr.    .Arnold    rfvaiis  tL<»    v 


••  t    of    A.UJOU 
tj»>»."     The   death    ;-f   h^r   «.E    TiM-r^a*   ia    1H7J    <te«p' 

Bumner,  Congress  CT*V:-  h.-'   •:    ;:  ••'  -  >>i,. 

than  it  was,  as  Ore;.  Hoe  d'w-xl  *t  the  i 

Ninian  Edwards,  SB  %>rin^tield    IH..  JI>!T   1 

her  life  aince  tV   great  tr&.^i-J}    f.«ir.t    •  1   t;Jk 


WILLIAM  H.  HERNDON  IN  1884 


HERNDON'S  LINCOLN  323 

Of  course,  the  whole  topic  should  have  been  veiled  in  that 
privacy  which  ought  always  to  be  accorded  to  such  relations ; 
but  Lincoln,  like  Carlyle,  was  not  shown  such  respect.  Though 
Herndon,  as  he  assures  us,  was  on  the  side  of  the  wife,  he  re 
cords  the  facts  with  merciless  fidelity,  perhaps  because  so  much 
was  said  about  her  on  this  score  during  her  lifetime.  She  was 
never  popular  as  ' '  the  first  lady  of  the  land, ' ' x  but  that  is  no 
reason  why  her  unfortunate  traits  should  be  emphasized  to  the 
neglect  of  others  which  were  not  only  more  numerous,  but 
lovely  and  winning.  Pitiful  was  her  grief  after  the  last  great 
tragedy,  which  so  shattered  her  mind  that  she  was  never  her 
self  again.  Yet  to  the  end  she  was  pursued  by  a  prying  press 
in  a  manner  so  unmanly,  so  unchivalric,  that  one  can  find  no 
words  severe  enough  for  rebuke.2 

Ill 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  descriptive  powers  of  Mr.  Hern 
don,  and  they  certainly  deserve  mention,  for  they  are  remark 
able  alike  for  swiftness  of  stroke  and  vividness  of  detail.  Ex 
amples  are  many,  such  as  the  picture  of  the  wedding  scene  in 
1841,  of  the  murder  trials,  of  Lincoln  the  story-teller,  of  the 
speech  before  the  Bloomington  convention  in  1856,  of  Lincoln's 
mannerisms  in  oratory  at  the  beginning  of  the  great  debates ; 
and  others  of  like  kind.  But  surely  his  masterpiece  is  his 
sketch  of  Lincoln  as  a  man,  his  figure,  features,  movements, 
manners,  and  personal  traits,  which  appeared  first  in  a  lecture 

1  Recollections  of  a  Busy  Life,  by  Horace  Greeley,  p.  408   (1869). 

2  Life  of  Lincoln,  by  I.   N.   Arnold,  pp.  433-40    (1884).     In  rebuke 
of  a  gossiping  press  Mr.  Arnold  recalls  the  words  of  the  Earl  of  Ox 
ford,  in  Sir  Walter  Scott's  Anne  of  Geierstein,  when  the  Duke  of  Bur 
gundy   was   jesting   about   Margaret   of   Anjou:    "Whatever   may   have 
been  the  defects,  of  my  mistress,  she  is  in  distress,  and  almost  in  desola 
tion."     The   death   of   her   son   Thomas   in    1871   deepened   the   anguish 
of   this   beshadowed   woman.     Rather   tardily,   through   the    influence    of 
Sumner,  Congress  gave  her  a  pension,  which  ought  to  have  been  Jarger 
than  it  was,  as  Greeley  urged.     She  died  at  the  home  of  her  sister,  Mrs. 
Ninian  Edwards,  in  Springfield,  111.,  July  16,  1882.     So  dark  had  been 
her  life  since  the  great  tragedy  that  death  seemed  like  dawn. 


324 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

in  1866,  and  later  in  the  final  chapter  of  the  biography.  Slight 
ly  abbreviated  it  is  as  follows : 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  six  feet  four  inches  high,  and  when  he  left 
the  city  of  his  home  for  Washington  was  fifty -one  years  old, 
having  good  health  and  no  gray  hairs,  or  but  few,  on  his  head. 
He  was  thin,  wiry,  sinewy,  raw-boned;  thin  through  the 
breast  to  the  back,  and  narrow  across  the  shoulders ;  stand 
ing  he  leaned  forward  —  was  what  may  be  called  stoop- 
shouldered,  inclining  to  the  consumptive  by  build.  His 
usual  weight  was  one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds.  .  .  . 
His  structure  was  loose  and  leathery ;  his  body  shrunk  and 
shriveled ;  he  had  dark  skin,  dark  hair,  and  looked  woe-struck. 
The  whole  man,  body  and  mind  worked  slowly,  as  if  it  need 
ed  oiling.  Physically  he  was  a  very  powerful  man,  lifting 
with  ease  four  hundred,  and  in  one  case  six  hundred,  pounds. 
Hence  there  was  very  little  bodily  or  mental  wear  and  tear 
in  him. 

When  he  walked  he  moved  cautiously  but  firmly;  his 
long  arms  and  giant  hands  swung  down  by  his  side.  He 
walked  with  even  tread,  the  inner  sides  of  his  feet  being  par 
allel.  He  put  the  whole  foot  down  flat  on  the  ground  at 
once,  not  landing  on  the  heel.  Hence  he  had  no  spring  in 
his  walk.  His  walk  was  undulatory  —  catching  and  pocket 
ing  tire,  weariness,  and  pain,  all  up  and  down  his  person, 
and  thus  preventing  them  from  locating.  The  first  impres 
sion  of  a  man  who  did  not  observe  closely  was  that  his  walk 
implied  shrewdness  and  cunning  —  that  he  was  a  tricky 
man ;  but,  in  reality  it  was  the  walk  of  caution  and  firmness. 
In  sitting  down  on  a  common  chair  he  was  no  taller  than 
ordinary  men.  His  legs  and  arms  were  abnormally,  unnat 
urally  long,  and  in  undue  proportion  to  the  rest  of  his  body. 
It  was  only  when  he  stood  up  that  he  loomed  above  other 
men. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  head  was  long,  and  tall  from  the  base  of  the 
brain  and  from  the  eyebrows.  His  head  ran  backwards, 
his  forehead  rising  as  it  ran  back  at  a  low  angle,  like 
Clay's,  and  unlike  Webster's,  which  was  almost  perpendic 
ular.  The  size  of  his  hat  measured  at  the  hatter 's  block  was 
seven  and  one-eighth,  his  head  being,  from  ear  to  ear,  six 
and  one  half  inches.  Thus  measured  it  was  not  below  the 
medium  size.  His  forehead  was  narrow  but  high ;  his  hair 
was  dark,  almost  black,  and  lay  floating  where  his  fingers  or 
the  wind  left  it,  piled  up  at  random.  His  cheeks  were  high, 
sharp,  and  prominent ;  his  nose  was  large,  long,  blunt,  and  a 


HERNDON'S  LINCOLN 325 

little  awry  towards  the  right  eye;  his  chin  was  sharp  and 
upcurved ;  his  eyebrows  cropped  out  like  a  huge  rock  on  the 
brow  of  a  hill ;  his  long,  sallow  face  was  wrinkled  and  dry, 
with  a  hair  here  and  there  in  the  surface ;  his  cheeks  were 
leathery;  his  ears  were  large,  and  ran  out  almost  at  right 
angles  to  his  head,  caused  partly  by  heavy  hats  and  partly 
by  nature ;  his  lower  lip  was  thick,  hanging  and  under- 
curved,  while  his  chin  reached  for  the  lip  upcurved ;  his  neck 
was  neat  and  trim,  his  head  being  well  balanced  on  it ;  there 
was  a  large  mole  on  his  cheek,  and  Adam's  apple  on  his 
throat.  Thus  stood,  walked,  acted,  and  looked  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

It  is  indeed  Lincoln ;  and  for  photographic  realism  no  one  may 
ever  hope  to  surpass  this  picture.  It  is  the  portrait  of  a  giant, 
in  body  and  mind,  slow  and  massive  of  movement,  strong,  gen 
tle,  and  sad.  One  can  almost  feel  the  gaze  from  the  small, 
gray,  deep-set  eyes,  at  once  so  calm,  so  inscrutable,  and  so  be 
nign,  inviting  trust  and  shaming  wrong.  Strange  lights  and 
shadows  played  over  that  rugged,  mobile  face,  often  blending 
so  quickly  that  mirth  seemed  to  melt  into  sadness,  and  sadness 
gleam  into  mirth,  as  if  they  were  akin.  It  is  a  map  of  his  life, 
and  its  lines  range  from  Francis  of  Assisi  to  Grant,  from  Ham 
let  to  Falstaff,  from  Rabelais  to  Isaiah,  so  that  whoso  studies  it 
sees,  however  dimly,  something  of  his  own  soul,  and  catches, 
however  faint  and  far,  a  glimpse  of  what  it  is  to  be  a  man.  If 
his  later  portraits,  showing  the  beard  worn  at  the  request  of  a 
little  girl,  obscure  some  of  the  deep  lines,  they  make  the  eyes 
more  impressive,  revealing  at  once  the  gentleness  of  true  giant- 
hood  and  the  wisdom  of  patience  and  pity.  Of  all  the  faces 
that  look  out  upon  us  from  the  past,  none  is  more  arresting, 
none  more  appealing,  none  more  eloquent  of  simple  human 
majesty. 

Herndon  makes  note  of  the  humor  of  Lincoln,  but  he  does 
not  emphasize  it,  perhaps  because  others  have  exaggerated  it 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  rest  of  his  powers.  He  had  scant 
patience  with  those  who  made  him  appear  in  the  guise  of  a 
mere  fabulist,  a  purveyor  of  jokes,  forgetting  the  dignity  of 
the  man,  and  failing  to  see  that  his  stories,  especially  in  his 
latter  years,  were  the  wrappings  of  his  thoughts,  like  the  fan- 


326 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

tastic  jewel  cases  which  Socrates  saw  in  the  stores  of  Athens. 
If,  as  one  has  well  said,  Lincoln  combined  within  himself  the 
strangely  diverse  roles  of  ruler  and  court  jester,  and  was  equal 
ly  eminent  in  both  characters,  the  jester  always  obeyed  the 
ruler.  His  humor,  as  Herndon  saw  it,  was  the  pledge  of  his 
sanity  indeed,  but  more  often  it  was  the"  frolic  of  his  intellect, 
a  stroke  of  laughter  to  clear  and  sweeten  the  air. 

In  the  role  of  a  story-teller  I  am  prone  to  regard  Mr.  Lin 
coln  as  without  an  equal.  .  .  .  His  power  of  mimicry  and 
his  manner  of  recital  were  in  many  respects  unique,  if  not 
remarkable.  His  countenance  and  all  his  features  seemed 
to  take  part  in  the  performance.  As  he  neared  the  pith  or 
point  of  the  joke  every  vestige  of  seriousness  disappeared 
from  his  face.  His  little  grey  eyes  sparkled ;  a  smile  seemed 
to  gather  up,  curtain  like,  the  corners  of  his  mouth;  his 
frame  quivered  with  suppressed  excitement;  and  when  the 
point  —  or  "  nub ' '  of  the  story,  as  he  called  it  —  came,  no 
one's  laugh  was  heartier  than  his.  .  .  .  Every  recital  was 
followed  by  a  storm  of  laughter.  After  this  had  died  down, 
some  unfortunate  creature,  through  whose  thick  skull  the 
point  had  just  penetrated,  wrould  break  out  in  a  guffaw, 
starting  another  wave  of  laughter.  ...  I  have  seen  Judge 
Treat,  who  was  the  very  impersonation  of  gravity  itself, 
sit  up  till  the  last  and  laugh  until,  as  he  often  expressed  it, 
"he  almost  shook  his  ribs  loose."  The  next  day  he  would 
ascend  the  bench  and  listen  to  Lincoln  in  a  murder  trial, 
with  all  the  seeming  severity  of  an  English  judge  in  wig  and 
gown. 

What  impressed  Herndon  more  than  all  else  was  the  intellect 
of  Lincoln  —  a  tireless  intellect  always  toiling,  taking  nothing 
for  granted,  and  building  his  thought-world  from  the  ground 
up,  as  if  no  one  had  ever  thought  before  him.  It  was,  more 
over,  an  ultra-conservative  intellect,  which  saw  life  for  less 
than  it  is,  yet  willing  to  face  the  drab  and  haggard  reality  as 
he  saw  it.  With  sure  insight  Herndon  found  in  the  very 
cast  of  his  mind  one  cause  of  the  sadness  of  the  man.  Lincoln 
was  by  nature  and  habit  mercilessly,  almost  morbidly,  an 
alytical,  and  whoso  tries  life  by  such  tests  is  doomed  to  walk  a 
dim  and  shadowy  path.  He  thought  that  life  is  ruled  by 
logic,  whereas  logic  cannot  be  made  to  compass  more  than  a 


HEBNDON'S  LINCOLN 327 

tiny  segment  of  it.  Hence  the  superstition  of  Lincoln,  for 
when  a  man  follows  logic  to  its  limit  he  must  either  make  the 
venture  of  faith  or  leave  the  fag  ends  of  his  thought  to  split 
and  ravel  into  the  occult.  Mr.  Herndon  wrote  much  in  an 
alysis  of  the  mind  of  his  partner,  and  his  manuscript  notes  are 
even  more  suggestive,  at  times,  than  his  final  record.  We  read : 

Lincoln  stands  high  up  among  the  mountain  men  of  the 
world.  He  thought  too  much  and  did  too  much  for  America 
to  be  crammed  into  an  epigram,  or  shot  off  with  a  single 
rocket.  He  was  too  close  to  the  touch  of  the  Divine  every 
where,  too  near  the  suggestions  and  whispering  of  nature, 
for  such  quick  work  done  with  a  flash.  It  requires  close, 
severe  analysis  to  understand  the  man  who  was  a  riddle  and 
a  puzzle  to  his  neighbors  among  whom  he  lived.  You  wish 
to  know  the  elements  of  Lincoln's  greatness  and  the  secrets 
of  his  power.  Having  been  acquainted  with  him  for  more 
than  thirty  years  —  twenty  years  of  that  time  intimately  — 
I  have  formed  settled  opinions  founded  upon  my  own  ob 
servations. 

Lincoln's  power  rested  on  the  qualities  of  his  nature, 
which  were  as  follows:  First,  he  had  great  reason,  lucid 
and  strong ;  he  lived  in  his  thought  and  thought  in  his  life : 
a  ciose,  cautious,  persistent,  protound,  terriDie  tmnker. 
Politics  was  his  life,  newspapers  his  food,  ambition  his 
motive  power.  He  was  never  a  general  reader,  but  always 
a  thinker :  embodied  reflection  itself ;  an  abstracted  man  — 
self-reliant,  self-helpful,  never  once  doubting  his  power  to 
do  anything  any  one  else  could  do.  He  thought  —  at  least 
he  so  acted  —  that  there  was  no  limitation  to  the  endurance 
of  his  mental  and  vital  forces.  Long,  severe,  exhaustive 
study  of  the  subjects  which  he  loved,  without  stimulative 
food  or  drinks  —  he  ate  and  drank  mechanically,  apparent 
ly  —  wrought  evils  in  his  intellectual  and  physical  system. 
There  was  a  kind  of  mental  exhaustion,  a  nervous  morbidity 
and  irritability.  Hence,  I  think,  came  a  little  of  his  melan 
choly  and  superstition. 

Secondly,  Lincoln  had  a  living,  active,  breathing  con 
science  that  rooted  itself  deep  down  in  his  very  being,  every 
fiber  of  which  twisted  around  his  whole  nervous  system. 
This  conscience  of  his  was  a  positive  quality,  the  court  of 
courts  which  gave  final  judgments  from  which  there  was  no 
appeal,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned.  He  stood  bolt  upright 


328 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

and  downright  on  his  conscience.  Lincoln  lived  in  his  rea 
son  and  his  conscience,  and  these  two  attributes  were  the 
ruling  powers  of  his  nature,  of  his  entire  life. 

It  is  thought  by  some  that  Lincoln  was  a  very  warm 
hearted  man,  spontaneous  and  impulsive.  This  is  not  the 
exact  truth.  He  was  tender-hearted  when  in  the  presence 
of  suffering  or  when  it  was  enthusiastically  or  poetically  de 
scribed  to  him :  he  had  great  charity  for  the  weaknesses  of 
his  fellows ;  his  nature  was  merciful ;  but  he  had  little  im 
agination  to  invoke  suffering  through  the  distance,  or  fancy 
to  paint  it.  His  heart  was  warm  enough,  impulsive  enough, 
for  the  broad  field  of  his  destiny.  A  President  in  office  has 
not  legally  much  to  do  with  the  heart,  but  all  to  do  with 
justice  as  defined  by  law.  Had  Lincoln  been  a  man  of  no 
will  and  all  heart  this  Union  would  have  gone  to  wreck  in 
1863  or  before.  Was  he  not  built  and  organized  for  the  oc 
casion  ?  Was  he  not  the  right  man  at  the  right  time,  in  the 
right  place  ?  Would  you  have  made  him  different  ? l 

It  was  a  favorite  theory  wTith  Herndon  that  the  consideration 
and  charity  of  Lincoln  resulted  rather  from  his  sense  of  justice 
than  from  his  sympathy.  Such  a  discussion,  as  President  Taft 
has  suggested,  is  hardly  profitable ;  but  it  emphasizes  the  Lin 
coln  as  Herndon  knew  him.  During  the  awful  ordeal  of  war 
scenes  of  suffering  were  always  present,  and  the  heart  of  Lin 
coln  was  revealed,  prompting  him  to  yield  abstractions  but 
never  to  surrender  principle.  Continuing,  Mr.  Herndon  says : 

Lincoln  was  a  sad  man.  Signs  of  melancholy  were  chiseled 
into  every  line  of  his  face.  Men  at  once  saw  that  he  was  a 
man  of  sorrow,  and  this  was  a  magnetic  tie  giving  him  power 
over  men.  Now  the  question  is,  What  were  the  causes  of 
this  sadness?  First,  possibly,  was  heredity.  His  mother 
was  an  uneducated,  but  by  nature  an  intellectual,  sad,  and 
sensitive  woman.  Lincoln  was  in  some  particulars  a  very 
sensitive  man.  Secondly,  it  is  probable  that  his  physical 
organization,  which  functioned  slowly,  feebly,  added  to  this 
feeling  of  depression.  His  fatalistic  philosophy,  the  idea 
that  he  was  in  the  hands  of  an  invisible,  irresistible,  inevit 
able  Power  may  have  contributed  to  his  despondency.  The 
death  of  Ann  Rutledge,  the  sweet  girl  of  New  Salem,  and  his 

i  Ms.  letter  to  C.  O.  Poole,  Jan.,  1886. 


HERNDON'S  LINCOLN 329 

later  home  life,  increased  it.     Twice  he  walked  the  sharp 
and  narrow  line  that  divides  sanity  from  insanity.1 

It  is  said  that  Lincoln  was  a  many-sided  man.  I  suggest 
that  it  is  more  accurate  to  say  that  he  was  a  many-rnooded 
man.  His  thoughts  and  acts  were  tinged  and  colored  by 
his  moods.  Now,  put  all  these  qualities  together  —  his  great 
reason,  his  living  conscience,  his  practical  sagacity,  his  sad 
ness,  his  fatalism,  his  scepticism  of  the  creeds  —  and  run 
them  out  into  his  daily  life,  and  you  have  a  glimpse  of  the 
man  and  his  inner  life.  I  felt  these  qualities  when  we  were 
young  together,  and  I  feel  them  now.  Because  the  nation 
felt  them,  it  trusted  him  with  unlimited  power.2 

But  it  is  only  a  glimpse,  for  it  leaves  out  of  account  the  innate 
idealism  of  Lincoln,  his  mysticism,  his  deep  unconscious  poetry, 
and,  above  all,  the  persuasive  and  indefinable  power  of  tem 
perament.  His  sadness  was  largely  due  to  his  temperament, 
in  which  his  final  tragedy  seemed  always  to  be  foreshadowed. 
In  his  temperament,  too,  lay  that  rare,  unanalyzable  quality 
which  suffused  his  words  and  not  only  turned  so  many  of  them 
into  literature,  but  gave  them  an  influence  they  would  not  have 
had  if  uttered  by  another.  To  this  day  the  smallest  scrap  of 
his  writing  has  this  distinctive  touch  and  tone.  There  was 
logic  in  his  speech,  and  humor,  and  human  sympathy,  and  a 
clear  mastery  of  words;  but  there  was  something  deeper  and 
more  appealing.  It  was  the  quality  of  his  temperament.  In 
an  unusual  manner  the  inner  forces  of  his  nature  played 
through  his  intellect ;  and  when  deeply  stirred  his  whole  being 
seemed  to  distill  itself  into  his  speech,  so  that  to  this  day  his 
personality  clings  to  his  words.  It  was  a  rare  gift,  and  be 
cause  what  was  deepest  in  him  was  akin  to  what  is  deepest  in 
the  life  of  man  everywhere,  his  words,  like  those  of  Burns, 
have  a  far-echoing  charm. 

1  in  his  lecture  on  "Lincoln  and  Ann  Kutledge, "  delivered  in  l,86fi, 
Mr.   Herndon  said  that  in  l;is  younger  days,  before  1835,   Lincoln  was 
an  ardent,  somewhat  impetuous  and  impulsive  man,  having  much  more 
fire  and  fancy  in  him  than  after-wards,  and  rarely  beshadowed  by  gloom. 
But  the  death  of  Ann  Rutledge  modified  his  nature,  leaving  him  mortally 
wounded  at  heart.     That  sorrow  subdued  him  to  its  own  color,  and  clothed 
him  in  shadow. 

2  Ms.  letter  to  C.  O.  Poole,  Jan.,  1886. 


330 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

As  a  thinker  he  was  contemplative  rather  than  speculative, 
such  a  man  as  Charles  Lamb  delighted  to  meet,  with  whom  one 
"could  hover  over  the  confines  of  truth."  His  philosophy  of 
life  was  quite  simple,  almost  rudimentary,  and  easily  defined ; 
yet  so  peculiar  was  his  angle  of  mental  vision,  so  personal  his 
point  of  view,  that  he  seemed  to  have  thought  it  out  for  the 
first  time.  Though  familiar  enough,  it  was  in  a  sense  original 
with  him,  for  less  than  almost  any  other  man  he  was  influ 
enced  by  the  labors  of  other  minds.  He  dealt  with  life  at  first 
hand,  built  his  own  thought-world,  and  no  one  need  be  re 
minded  that  such  a  task  required  laborious  and  incessant  toil. 
He  had  difficulty  in  expressing  himself,  because  he  was  not  a 
master  of  the  English  language,  and  because  so  few  words  had 
the  exact  color  and  shape  of  his  ideas.  Mr.  Herndon  has  de 
scribed  his  outlook  upon  life  with  singular  skill  : 

To  know  a  man's  philosophy  is  important.  When  well 
known,  it  leads  to  a  full  knowledge  of  his  life  and  explains 
many  of  his  acts,  otherwise  inexplicable.  It  is  something 
that  can  be  appealed  to  in  case  of  doubt  as  evidence  of  a 
method  of  life.  Lincoln,  to  use  a  Christian  word,  believed 
in  predestination.  To  use  a  somewhat  more  classical  word, 
he  believed  that  fate  ruled  and  doomed  everything.  He  was 
heard  to  say,  often  and  often,  that  what  is  to  be  will  be ;  and 
no  prayers  of  ours  can  change  or  reverse  the  decree :  it  is 
inevitable.  Another  part  of  his  philosophy  was  that  condi 
tions  make  and  rule  the  man,  not  man  the  conditions.  In 
short,  he  believed  in  laws  —  general,  universal,  and  eternal 
—  that  they  governed  both  matter  and  mind  from  the  be 
ginning,  if  there  was  a  beginning,  to  the  very  end,  if  there 
is  to  be  an  end.  There  were  no  miracles  in  his  opinion  out 
side  of  law. 

It  would  follow  —  and  did  follow  —  that  he  was  a  calm, 
cool,  and  patient  man ;  that  he  had  a  broad  charity  for  the 
weaknesses,  foibles,  and  vices  of  mankind.  He  looked  out 
from  his  noble  nature  upon  the  stern  realities  of  life,  the 
ludicrous  and  the  sad,  the  foolish  and  the  wise,  and  whis 
pered  to  himself,  "All  this  was  decreed,  it  is  inevitable,  it 
was  to  be  and  now  is. ' '  He  waited  upon  the  logic  of  events 
with  more  than  a  woman 's  patience,  and  at  their  blossoming 
time  seized  his  grand  opportunities  —  caught  the  flow  of 
time  and  tided  himself  thereon.  Come  what  would,  weal 


HERNDON 'S  LINCOLN 331 

or  woe,  victory  or  defeat,  life  or  death,  Lincoln  was  cool 
and  calm,  neither  despairing  nor  exulting,  praising  nor 
blaming,  eulogizing  nor  condemning.  To  shout  or  exult 
would  be  flying  in  the  face  of  fate,  or  wooing  her.  So  strong 
was  this  philosophy  that  it  was  a  part  of  his  being.1 

All  this  is  true  as  far  as  it  goes ;  but  during  his  later  life,  when 
the  Hamlet  thinker  was  forced  to  be  a  man  of  action,  there  was 
a  spiritual  growth  in  Lincoln  which  Herndon  never  fully  real 
ized.  The  pressure  upon  him  of  great  problems  and  keen  per 
sonal  sorrows,  the  awful  moral  significance  of  the  conflict  in 
which  he  was  the  chief  combatant,  and  the  overwhelming  sense 
of  responsibility  which  never  left  him  for  an  hour,  contrib 
uted,  with  the  natural  deepening  of  soul  which  life  brings,  to 
produce,  in  a  nature  profoundly  serious  and  naturally  dis 
posed  to  a  spiritual  view  of  life  and  conduct,  a  sense  of  reverent 
and  calm  acceptance  of  the  guidance  of  a  Supreme  Power. 
While  he  never  attained  to  Christian  faith,  he  did  come  to  feel 
that  the  Power,  which  in  other  years  had  worn  the  aspect  of  a 
stern  if  not  indifferent  fate,  was  more  personal,  less  pitiless, 
and  more  responsive  to  human  appeal. 

To  sum  it  up,  the  work  of  Mr.  Herndon,  of  which  this  re 
view  is  only  a  sketch,  is  indispensable  to  the  student  who  would 
know  his  partner  and  friend.  He  was  a  rude  workman  deal 
ing  with  raw  materials,  and  there  were  many  refinements  in 
the  nature  of  Lincoln  to  which  he  was  almost  blind,  perhaps  be 
cause  he  had  little  in  his  own  makeup  to  give  him  the  key. 
None  the  less,  the  Lincoln  whom  he  portrayed  is  a  very  real 
person:  a  man  of  artless  and  unstudied  simplicity;  a  lawyer 
with  the  heart  of  a  humanitarian;  a  thinker  who  picked  his 
way  alone ;  a  man  of  action  led  by  a  seer-like  vision ;  a  humorist 
whose  heart  was  full  of  tears ;  not  free  from  fault  and  therefore 
rich  in  charity ;  as  unwavering  in  justice  as  he  was  unfailing 
in  mercy.  Time,  trial,  and  sorrow  were  needed  to  make  such 
a  man,  and  Lincoln  was  still  growing  when  he  died.  It  was  a 
far  cry  from  Gentryville  to  Washington,  from  the  gawky  vil 
lage  fabulist  and  athlete  to  the  patient  and  heroic  man  who 

i  Ms.  letter  to  Mr.  Lindman,  Dec.,  1886. 


332 LINCOLN  AND  HERNPON 

presided  at  the  rebirth  of  a  nation;  from  the  "Chronicles  of 
Reuben"  to  the  Gettysburg  address.  But  through  the  long 
years,  as  Herndon  watched  the  unfolding  of  his  life,  there  was 
a  broadening  of  mind,  a  deepening  of  soul,  a  chastening  of 
heart,  revealing  new  refinements  of  nature,  until  he  stood  forth 
a  masterpiece  of  intellect,  sympathy,  and  character. 

This  long,  bony,  sad  man  floated  down  the  Sangamon  River 
in  a  frail  canoe  in  the  spring  of  1831.  Like  a  piece  OL  drift 
wood  he  lodged  at  last,  without  a  history,  strange,  penniless, 
and  alone.  In  sight  of  the  capital  of  Illinois,  in  the  fatigue 
of  daily  toil,  he  struggled  for  the  necessaries  of  life.  Thirty 
years  later  this  same  peculiar  man  left  the  Sangamon  River, 
backed  by  friends,  by  power,  by  the  patriotic  prayers  of 
millions  of  people,  to  be  the  ruler  of  the  greatest  nation  in 
the  world. 


CHAPTER  XI 

The  Senior  Partner 


One  who  follows  Lincoln  down  the  years,  from  a  windowless 
log  cabin  to  the  White  House,  does  not  find  it  easy  to  write 
about  him  calmly.  He  was  a  man  of  such  high  and  tender 
humanity,  of  personality  so  appealing  and  pathos  so  melting, 
that  almost  every  study  of  him  ends  in  a  blur  of  eulogy.  No 
higher  tribute  could  be  paid  to  any  man,  yet  that  was  just 
what  he  did  not  like,  and  the  reason  why,  in  later  years,  he 
refused  to  read  biography.  He  had  no  vanity,  and  being  a 
man  of  humor  he  did  not  pose,  nor  did  he  wish  any  one  to 
draw  him  other  than  he  was.  But  men  can  no  more  help 
loving  and  praising  him  than  they  can  help  loving  and  praising 
surpassing  nobility  anywhere,  and  his  very  honesty  in  modesty 
makes  him  all  the  more  winning.  Of  all  the  great  rulers  of 
men,  he  is  to  this  day  at  once  the  most  dearly  human  and  the 
most  sincerely  revered. 

There  is  a  certain  mystery  about  Lincoln,  as  there  is  about 
every  great  and  simple  man ;  a  mystery  too  simple,  it  may  be, 
to  be  found  out.  If  he  seemed  complex  it  was  because,  in  the 
midst  of  many  complexities,  he  was,  after  all,  so  simple ;  an 
uncommon  man  with  common  principles  and  virtues,  who  grew 
up  in  the  backyard  of  the  republic  and  ascended  to  power  in  a 
time  of  crisis.  Our  pioneer  era  is  still  so  much  a  matter  of  ro 
mance  to  us  that  many  fail  to  see  how  naturally  Lincoln  grew, 
born  as  he  was  in  the  wild  hunting  grounds  of  Daniel  Boone, 
having  for  the  background  of  his  life  the  wide  melancholy  of 
the  western  plain,  its  shadowy  forests,  its  low  hills,  and  its 
winding  waters.  His  genius  was  homespun,  not  exotic ;  it 
does  not  dazzle  or  amaze;  does  not  baffle  or  bewilder;  and  is 


334  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

thus  an  example  and  a  legacy  of  inspiration.  Yet  no  one  who 
saw  him  ever  saw  another  man  like  him.  He  stood  apart ;  he 
was  original;  he  was  himself,  genuine,  simple,  sincere.  The 
more  we  know  about  him  the  greater  he  seems  to  be  in  his 
totality  of  powers,  none  of  which  was  supremely  great,  but 
all  of  which,  united  and  held  in  poise,  made  him  at  once  so 
universal  and  so  unique. 

As  if  by  an  instinct  of  destiny  Lincoln  forefelt  his  future, 
but  he  was  no  Richelieu  meditating  aside  the  great  uses  to 
which  Providence  had  put  him.  And  surely,  if  ever  of  any 
one,  we  may  reverently  believe  that  this  simple,  gentle,  wise, 
far-seeing,  mighty  man  was  raised  up  of  God,  and  trained  for 
his  task.  Amid  threatening  chaos  he  left  his  law  office  for  the 
the  highest  place,  with  the  sure  step  of  power,  as  if  it  were  a 
matter  of  course ;  giving  his  partner  permission  to  use  the 
firm  name,  as  before,  without  a  conscious  trait  of  poetry ;  yet 
looking  to  the  far  future  with  a  longing  that  was  poetry.  He 
ruled  a  great  nation  as  he  had  practised  law,  having  in  con 
spicuous  degree  the  three  qualities  which  Emerson  said  attract 
the  reverence  of  mankind  —  disinterestedness,  practical  power, 
and  moral  courage.  Assuredly  he  was  one  of  the  marvels  of 
history,  and  if  his  later  fame  differed  vastly  from  his  early 
life,  the  reason  must  be  found  in  the  anomaly  of  the  man. 

One  who  looks  back  over  the  life  of  Lincoln,  and  the  stormy 
era  in  which  he  appeared  —  coming  out  of  the  shadow  and 
vanishing  into  the  shadow  —  is  left  with  a  feeling  of  mingled 
wonder  and  awe.  Yet  hardly  a  throb  of  the  embittered  feel 
ing,  hardly  a  vestige  of  the  acrimonious  debates  which  precip 
itated  that  conflict  is  heard  today,  save  in  the  feeble  words  of 
some  belated  zealot.  All  may  now  read  with  philosophical 
calm,  when  not  with  tearful  reminiscence,  the  records  of  those 
memorable  years,  wondering  the  while  whether  some  wiser 
method  might  not  have  been  found  to  abolish  slavery  —  nor 
forgetting  the  dark  problem  in  the  menacing^  array  of  racial 
forces  even  now  before  us.  Vain  are  all  earthly  counsels  to 
determine  the  fate  of  nations  in  such  times  of  crises.  One  who 
cannot  see  in  all  this  the  hand  of  an  overruling  Power,  guid- 


THE  SENIOR  PARTNER 335 

ing  the  course  of  human  affairs,  must  believe  that  our  human 
life  is  the  sport  of  chance,  or  what  Tacitus  called  it,  a  Divine 
jest  at  our  frailty. 

II 

No  figure  on  that  stage  was  more  pitiful  than  that  of  James 
Buchanan,  whose  fame  would  be  whiter  had  he  not  sat  in  the 
White  House.1  Old  and  infirm,  alike  ambitious  and  timid,  he 
held  the  reins  of  an  angry  nation  with  a  nerveless  hand.  That, 
during  those  mournful  months,  he  often  said  that  he  was  the 
last  President  of  the  United  States,  is  almost  certainly  true. 
That  he  argued  that  the  government  had  no  right  to  defend 
its  own  life,  is  a  matter  of  record.2  State  after  State  seceded 
and  made  ready  for  war,  seizing  the  arms,  arsenals,  and  forts 
of  the  nation,  and  not  a  hand  was  put  forth  to  hinder.  The 
navy,  as  if  by  plan,  was  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  the 
earth.  Never  a  leader  of  men,  the  decrepit  diplomat  sat  as  if 
smitten  by  the  palsy,  while  the  nation  went  to  pieces  before 
his  eyes.  Admirable  as  an  adviser  when  prudence  and  cau 
tion  were  the  virtues  in  request,  and  when  there  was  some 
one  to  lead,  he  was  not  the  man  for  that  wild  and  fateful 
hour.  Dying  in  1868,  he  had  long  outlived  whatever  influence 
he  may  once  have  enjoyed,  and  is  remembered  as  a  man  who 
met  a  great  opportunity  and  was  not  equal  to  it. 

Well  might  Lincoln,  who  sat  at  home  powerless  to  do  any 
thing,  be  abstracted  and  absent-minded,  with  a  cloud  of  grief 
in  his  eyes;  well  might  he  say,  "  I  shall  never  be  glad  any 
more. "  But,  if  sad,  he  was  calm  and  firm  during  that  trying 
ordeal,  willing  to  conciliate  but  refusing  to  compromise,  while 
the  shadow  gathered  and  the  plot  thickened.  What  a  pity  that 
the  people  of  the  South  —  and  the  North,  too,  for  that  mat 
ter  —  did  not  know  Lincoln  as  he  knew  them,  and  as  all  now 
know  him.  But  the  clouds  were  too  dark  for  his  kindly  face 
to  be  seen,  when,  on  that  rainy  February  morning  he  said 

1  Twenty   Tears   of  Congress,   by  J.   G.   Elaine,  Vol.   I,  pp.   239-40 
(1884). 

2  Eecollections,  by  Horace  Greeley,  p.  359   (1869). 


336  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

farewell  forever  to  scenes  made  dear  by  struggle  and  sorrow. 
From  the  rear  of  the  car  he  said : 

My  friends,  no  one,  not  in  my  position,  can  appreciate  my 
feeling  of  sadness  at  this  parting.  To  this  place,  and  the 
kindness  of  these  people,  I  owe  everything.  Here  I  have 
lived  a  quarter  of  a  century  and  have  passed  from  a  young 
to  an  old  man.  Here  my  children  have  been  born  and  one 
of  them  is  buried.  I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when  or 
whether  ever  I  may  return,  with  a  task  before  me  greater 
than  that  which  rested  upon  Washington.1  Without  the 
assistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  attended  him,  I 
cannot  succeed.  With  that  assistance,  I  cannot  fail.  Trust 
ing  to  Him  who  can  go  with  me,  and  remain  with  you,  and 
be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope  that  all 
will  yet  be  well.  To  His  care  commending  you,  as  I  hope 
in  your  prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid  you  an  af 
fectionate  farewell. 

Of  leaders  of  men  there  are  two  kinds.  One  sees  the  thing 
as  it  ought  to  be,  and  is  to  be,  and  condemns  all  else  that  falls 
below  the  ideal.  They  are  reformers,  agitators,  and  sometimes 
iconoclasts  —  men  who  see  the  ideal  more  vividly  than  they 
discern  the  way  to  it,  dreamers  who  know  not  the  slow  ways 
whereby  dreams  are  wrought  into  realities.  They  are  noble 
in  their  fealty  to  high  visions,  and  by  their  burning  zeal  they 
make  men  feel  and  think;  but  by  a  sure  instinct  we  refuse  to 
entrust  the  reins  of  power  into  their  hands.  Amid  the  tangle 
of  legal  rights  and  practical  necessities,  of  conflicting  inter 
ests  and  constitutional  provisions,  they  are  helpless.  That 
they  see  no  difficulties  is  their  strength;  that  others  see  all 
the  difficulties  is  perhaps  a  greater  virtue;  and  it  would  be 
trite  to  say  that  both  virtues  are  needed.  These  idealists, 

i  One  who  stood  near  the  end  of  the  car  —  Mr.  H.  B.  Kankin  —  tells 
me  that  Lincoln  was  for  a  moment  unable  to  speak..  Tears  were  in 
his  eyes,  and  he  mastered  himself  only  by  great  effort.  When  he  spoke 
of  his  task  as  greater  than  that  of  Washington,  there  were  murmurs 
in  the  crowd,  as  if  some  thought  he  overestimated  his  own  importance. 
Springfield  has  long  since  atoned  for  these  things,  but  few  realize  the 
envies,  jealousies,  and  bickerings  Lincoln  had  to  endure  during  the  last 
years  of  his  life  there.  The  train  moved  on  leaving  little  minds  to 
oblivion,  as  time  has  moved  on  leaving  little  envies  to  die. 


THE  SENIOR  PARTNER 337 

could  they  have  the  power,  would  no  doubt  blot  out  evil  at 
once,  leaving  the  consequences  with  God ;  but  they  would  blot 
out  much  else  besides,  for  which  they  would  find  it  hard  to 
be  forgiven.  Such  radicals,  however  useful  as  passengers,  are 
unsafe  pilots. 

Often  has  it  been  said  that,  as  a  fact,  in  the  case  of  the 
abolition  of  slavery  the  radical  and  violent  solution  of  the 
idealists  had  at  last  to  be  adopted.1  Apparently  so;  but  in 
truth  it  was  not  so  even  as  to  method,  much  less  as  to  results, 
as  Greeley  admitted,  somewhat  grudgingly;  for  the  Aboli 
tionists,  if  we  may  judge  them  by  their  leaders,  were  rarely 
ardent  Union  men.  Their  concern  was  to  "choke  down  slav 
ery,"  as  the  fiery  Herndon  put  it,  and  many  of  them  saw  in 
disunion  a  way  of  escape  from  political  complicity  with  the 
curse.  Indeed,  they  were  opposed  to  the  Union  because  it 
sanctioned  slavery,  just  as  the  radicals  of  the  South  fought  it 
because  it  menaced  the  continuance  of  slavery.  Had  it  not 
been  for  a  different  type  of  leader,  who  sought  to  realize  free 
dom  through  union,  without  sharing  the  bitter  feeling  on 
either  side,  one  can  hardly  conjecture  what  the  result  might 
have  been. 

The  other  type  of  leader  is  not  less  loyal  to  the  ideal,  but 
he  sees  the  situation  as  it  is  —  sees  it  steadily  and  sees  it 
whole  —  and  tries  patiently  and  wisely  to  work  out  the  best 
results  with  the  forces  with  which  he  has  to  deal.  He  knows 
that  men  are  slow  of  heart  and  stumbling  of  step;  that  they 
are  led  by  self-interest  always  and  only  fitfully  by  the  ideal ; 
so  he  does  not  run  so  far  ahead  of  the  masses  that  they  lose 
sight  of  him  and  stop ;  he  knows  how  to  get  along  with  ordin- 

i  Garrison  denounced  the  Constitution  as  a  league  with  death  and  a 
covenant  with  hell.  Parker  once  thought  that  if  a  State  wished  to  go  out 
of  the  Union,  it  had  a  right  to  do  so.  —  Theodore  Parker,  by  J.  W.  Chad- 
wick,  p.  260  (1900).  For  all  his  glittering  oratory,  Wendell  Phillips 
had  hardly  a  rudimentary  sense  of  constructive  statesmanship,  even  con 
tinuing  his  anti-slavery  agitation  after  slavery  had  ceased  to  be.  — 
Wendell  Phillips,  Orator  and  Agitator,  by  Lorenzo  Sears  (1910).  This 
is  not  to  discredit  the  work  done  by  these  splendid  men,  but  only  to  define 
their  limitations. 


338 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

ary  humanity.  Such  a  leader  was  Lincoln  —  uniting  an  un 
wavering  fidelity  to  a  moral  ideal  with  the  practical  acumen 
to  make  his  dream  come  true  —  handicapped  by  all  the  things 
that  go  to  make  up  wisdom,  yet  resolute  in  his  patience,  his 
courage,  his  self-control,  and  in  his  mastery  of  his  life  con 
sistently  with  a  high  moral  purpose.  No  leader  in  this  land 
ever  stood  so  close  to  the  common  people ;  no  one  has  been  at 
once  so  frank  and  so  subtle.  He  knew  the  people,  he  was  one 
of  them,  and  they  knew  and  loved  and  followed  him  —  paying 
to  him,  not  less  than  to  their  country,  "the  last  full  measure 
of  devotion." 

By  instinct  a  conservative,  Lincoln  was  too  reverent  to  be 
cheerfully  iconoclastic,  and  when  forced  to  act  by  the  edu 
cative  and  compulsive  power  of  events,  he  moved  slowly,  fol 
lowing  the  kindly  light  as  far  as  its  radiance  led.  He  refused 
to  skulk  behind  Providence,  holding  himself  to  be  as  justly 
responsible  for  the  results  of  his  acts  as  for  the  acts  them 
selves.  If  he  suffered  himself,  as  he  frankly  confessed,  to  be 
guided  by  events,  it  was  not  because  he  had  lost  sight  of 
principles,  still  less  because  he  was  an  opportunist  drifting 
with  the  tide.  It  was  because,  by  the  terms  of  his  life-phil 
osophy,  he  recognized  in  events  the  movement  of  moral  forces, 
which  he  was  bound  to  heed,  and  the  foot-steps  of  God,  which 
he  was  bound  to  follow.  He  did  not  presume  to  know  all  the 
will  of  God,  which  might  be  something  different  from  the 
wish  of  either  party,  but  so  far  as  it  was  made  plain  he  tried 
to  do  it.  But  he  did  not  imagine,  as  is  the  way  of  fanatics, 
that  this  high  faith  gave  him  a  right  to  over-step  the  law  of 
the  land,  which  he  was  under  vows  to  uphold. 

Ill 

Nor  must  we  forget  that  Lincoln  had  to  do  not  only  with  a 
condition,  but  with  a  theory  of  State  as  well.  While,  as  all 
now  see,  the  angry  debate  over  slavery  brought  on  the  con 
flict,  it  is  clear  that  upon  that  issue  alone  neither  side  would 
have  gone  to  war.  Far  back  and  deep  down  lay  the  fatal  dual 
ism,  which  had  been  growing  from  the  first,  destined  to  rend 


THE  SENIOR  PARTNER 339 

the  nation  in  a  strife,  the  prophecy  of  which  was  written  in 
the  whole  history  of  the  colonies,  if  not  in  the  annals  of  Eng 
land  for  centuries  past.  No  doubt  the  Slave  Oligarchy  ma 
nipulated  this  ancient  schism  in  its  own  behalf,  while  a  political 
party,  long  used  to  rule,  dared  to  make  its  exit  from  power  a 
signal  of  revolution ;  for  there  was  a  deal  of  the  original  man 
in  the  men  of  those  days,  South  as  well  as  North.  But  this 
would  not  have  been  possible  had  not  the  fatal  dualism  ex 
isted,  and  unless  this  be  kept  in  mind  no  one  can  understand 
that  crisis. 

One  must  know  the  point  of  view  of  the  South,  and  the 
theory  upon  which  it  acted.1  Many  Southern  men  —  such  as 
Stephens  and  Lee,  to  name  a  statesman  and  a  soldier  —  were 
opposed  to  disunion  as  a  policy,  deeming  it  most  unwise;  but 
they  did  not  question  its  validity  as  an  abstract,  though  per 
haps  a  revolutionary,  right.  They  sincerely  held  the  Consti 
tution  to  be  a  Compact,  a  league  of  Sovereign  Powers,  from 
which  any  State,  for  adequate  cause,  might  withdraw  at  will. 
Of  course  upon  such  a  theory,  held  by  many  in  the  North,  the 
Union  as  we  now  know  and  love  it  could  never  have  been 
built.  Against  the  final  strain  of  1861  it  proved  but  a  rope 
of  sand;  but  long  before  that  —  notably  in  1814,  when  the 
embargo  pressed  ruinously  upon  New  England  —  the  dogma 
of  secession  was  born,  not  South,  but  North.  In  fact,  it  had 
been  invoked  at  sundry  times  in  various  parts  of  the  country 
with  regard  to  other  questions  than  slavery,  often  upon  very 
slight  pretext.  Some  imagination  is  now  required  to  picture 
that  state  of  things,  but  we  must  see  it  if  we  are  to  know  the 
supreme  service  of  Lincoln  to  his  nation. 

i  Of  course  this  question  was  rendered  obsolete  and  academic  by 
the  Avar,  but  it  is  the  business  of  the  student  to  know  both  sides.  By 
far  the  most  able  and  comprehensive  review  of  the  question,  from  the 
Southern  point  of  view,  may  be  found  in  A  Constitutional  View  of  the 
War,  by  A.  H.  Stephens  (1868-70),  formerly  Vice-President  of  the  Con 
federacy.  How  sincere  the  Southern  people  were  in  their  faith  was  re 
vealed  by  their  conduct  during  the  war,  for  men  do  not  go  forth  from 
warm  firesides  through  blood,  and  fire,  and  tears,  unless  they  are  honest 
and  sincere,  however  mistaken  they  may  be.  And  they  should  at  least 
be  permitted  to  state  what  they  fought  for  in  that  war. 


340 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

Nor  was  that  all.  Not  only  two  ideas  of  State,  but  two 
ideals  of  life  had  taken  root  and  grown  on  our  eastern  shores, 
each  upon  its  own  soil,  each  taking  shape  under  its  own  sky. 
So  long  as  these  ideals  remained  apart,  the  nation  was  at 
peace,  not  realizing  what  antagonistic  elements  it  held.  If 
Puritanism  was  a  theocracy,  the  genius  of  the  Cavalier  was 
individualism,  and  the  social  fabrics  of  the  two  were,  by  the 
same  token,  utterly  unlike.  As  foreign  observers  had  often 
noted,  North  and  South,  instead  of  being  one  nation,  had  long 
been  two  nations  in  all  but  name  —  divided  in  arts  and  aims, 
in  social  sentiment  and  political  faith.  When,  therefore,  after 
a  long  period  of  internal  strife,  the  cleavage  came,  it  was  a 
natural  severance,  and  the  social  order,  as  is  nearly  always 
the  case,  asserted  its  ascendency  over  the  political  order.  Lee 
did  not  fight  as  an  enemy  of  the  Union,  nor  yet  as  a  friend  of 
slavery,  for  he  was  neither  in  fact.  He  fought  simply  as  a 
liegeman  of  Virginia,  unwilling  to  invade  the  scenes  of  his 
birth  and  the  shrines  of  his  fathers  at  the  head  of  a  hostile 
army.1  With  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  Southern  peo 
ple  slavery  was  not  an  issue.  Only  a  small  minority  held 
slaves  at  all,  and  some  of  these,  especially  in  the  border  States, 
were  Union  men,  while  in  their  hearts  many  slaveholders 
hated  slavery.2  But  when  the  debate  was  ended  and  the  war 
was  at  hand,  men  were  obliged  to  take  sides,  and  they  followed 
where  their  sense  of  duty,  or  their  feelings  of  contiguity  and 
neighborship,  led  them. 

With  Lincoln,  as  with  the  South,  the  slavery  question  was 
never  at  any  time  the  paramount  issue  in  the  conflict.  He 
disavowed  any  purpose  of  interfering,  directly  or  indirectly, 
with  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  existed,  declaring,  as  he 
truly  could,  that  he  had  neither  the  right  nor  the  inclination 
to  do  so.  He  was  never  an  Abolitionist,  never  an  advocate 
of  confiscation.  To  the  end  he  held,  consistently,  that  if  the 
nation  was  to  free  the  slaves,  it  must  buy  them  and  set  them 
free;  but  his  view  found  no  favor  in  the  eyes  of  those  who 

1  Robert  E.  Lee,  by  Thomas  Nelson  Page,  pp.  30-56  (1908). 

2  Autobiography  of  N.  S.  SJialer,  pp.  76-89   (1909). 


THE  SENIOR  PARTNER 341 

thought  it  right  to  be  unjust  to  men  whom  they  regarded  as 
unjust.  Intense  as  were  his  feelings  against  slavery  as  a 
"moral,  social,  and  political  wrong,"  he  would  not  wage  a  war 
to  destroy  it,  though  he  insisted  that  it  should  not  be  permitted 
to  survive  a  war  of  which  it  was  the  inciting  cause.  His  Pro 
clamation  of  Emancipation,  so  long  held  back,  was  a  war  meas 
ure  purely,  for  which  he  knew  he  had  no  warrant  in  law ;  and 
so  clear-sighted  was  his  sense  of  justice,  so  empty  his  heart  of 
all  rancor,  that  he  sought  to  qualify  the  rigor  of  his  act  by 
some  plan  of  restitution.  Then,  too,  there  were  problems  to 
follow  the  freeing  of  the  slaves  which  he  was  not  eager  to 
face,  though  others  seemed  to  be  able  to  solve  them  glibly 
enough.  While  it  is  certain  that  he  would  never  have  re 
turned  to  bondage  any  person  thus  set  free,  no  one  knows  just 
how  he  would  have  met  those  issues.  Still,  as  all  must  see, 
these  were  but  minor  questions  alongside  the  one  supreme 
problem  of  his  life. 

As  he  wrote  to  Greeley,  his  one  master  aim  was  not  to 
save  or  destroy  slavery,  but  to  save  the  Union  —  without  slav 
ery  if  he  could,  with  slavery  if  he  must  —  and  from  that  pur 
pose  he  could  not  be  turned  aside.  He  held  the  Constitution 
to  be  a  perpetual  compact,  solemnly  endorsed,  from  which  no 
State  had  a  right  to  withdraw  without  the  consent  of  the  others, 
and  this  position  he  would  not  yield.  Here  was  joined  the  real 
issue  in  the  conflict,  to  settle  which  appeal  had  at  last  to  be 
made  to  the  awful  court  of  war,  both  sides  fighting  with  equal 
sincerity,  endurance,  and  valor.  Had  there  been  such  a  feel 
ing  of  national  unity  as  now  exists,  slavery  could  have  been 
checked  and  ultimately  abolished  without  war;  but  real  unity 
there  was  none.  Yet  the  tide  was  flowing,  and  amid  the  slowly 
changing  conditions  of  national  life,  what  had  echoed  as  a 
prophecy  in  the  eloquence  of  Webster  was  becoming  a  neces 
sity,  if  not  a  reality.  So  that  Lincoln  —  in  whom,  as  Stephens 
noted,1  the  sentiment  of  Union  "rose  to  the  sublimity  of  a 
religious  mysticism"  —  instead  of  saving  the  Union,  may  al- 

i  A  Constitutional  View  of  the  War,  by  A.  H.  Stephens,  Vol.  II,  p. 
448  (1870). 


342 LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 

most  be  said  to  have  presided  at  its  birth,  and  witnessed  its 
christening  with  blood  and  tears.  His  personality  was  provi 
dential,  and  the  republic  of  today,  united  and  free,  is  at  once 
his  dream  and  his  memorial. 

IV 

Surely  no  man  new  to  power  ever  faced  a  more  formidable 
situation  than  that  which  confronted  Lincoln  when  he  entered 
the  White  House.  He  stole  into  his  capital  by  night  —  not 
without  protest  on  his  part x  —  while  men  were  betting  in  hotel 
corridors  that  he  would  not  live  to  take  his  seat.  He  had 
hardly  a  good  adviser,  for  even  Seward  2  —  who  wrought  so 
nobly  in  keeping  things  intact  until  he  arrived  —  lost  his  wits 
and  talked  wildly  of  sinking  the  slavery  question  in  a  war 
with  one  or  more  foreign  powers.  Perhaps  his  greatest  en 
couragement  came  from  Douglas,  who  flung  himself  into  the 
Union  cause,  but  that  great  voice  was  soon  hushed.3  Behind 

1  Recollections  of  Lincoln,  by  W.  H.  Lamon,  p.  46. 

2  All  admit  that  Mr.  Seward  lost  his  wits  entirely  when  he  submitted 
"Some   Thoughts  for  the  President's  Consideration,"   which  was  little 
less  than  an  offer  to  relieve  Lincoln  of  the  drudgery  of  being  President. 
But  he  learned  his  lesson,  as  Chase  and  Stanton  came,  each  in  his  own 
turn,  to  learn;   and  the  canny  kindness  of  Lincoln  in  this  affair  could 
hardly  be  surpassed.  —  Life  of  Seward,  by  F.  Bancroft,  Vol.  II,  pp.  123- 
148    (1900).     But  it  is  all  wrong  to  portray  those  men  as  mere  paste 
board  figures,  as  so  many  have  done  in  their  zeal  to  magnify  Lincoln  — 
though,  judging   from   the   remark   of   Secretary   Fessenden   to    Senator 
Stewart,  some  of  them  felt,  at  times,  like  office  boys.  —  Reminiscences, 
by  W.   M.   Stewart,   p.    172    (1908).     For   it   is   true   that   Lincoln   was 
master  of  the  situation. 

s"I  knew  Judge  Douglas  well:  I  admired,  respected,  loved  him.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  day  he  quitted  Washington  to  go  to  his  home  in 
Illinois  to  return  no  more.  Tears  were  in  his  eyes  and  his  voice  trembled 
like  a  woman's.  He  was  then  a  dying  man.  He  had  burned  the  candle 
at  both  ends,  .  .  .  and,  though  not  yet  fifty,  the  candle  had  burned  out. 
His  infirmities  were  no  greater  than  those  of  Clay;  not  to  be  mentioned 
with  those  of  Webster.  .  .  .  No  one  has  found  occasion  to  come  to  the 
rescue  of  his  fame.  No  party  interest  has  been  identified  with  his 
memory.  But  when  the  truth  of  history  is  written,  it  will  be  told  that, 
not  less  than  Webster  and  Clay,  he,  too,  was  a  patriotic  man,  who  loved 


THE  SENIOR  PARTNER 343 

him  was  a  divided  and  distracted  North,  unwilling,  as  yet, 
to  fight  for  the  Union  or  to  free  the  slaves,  with  its  commercial 
interests  demanding  peace  at  any  cost  of  principle.  Garrison 
announced  that  the  Union  was  dissolved.  Greeley  begged 
that  the  erring  Southern  sisters  be  permitted  to  go  in  peace. 
But  Lincoln,  though  he  moved  slowly,  stood  firmly  on  his  own 
feet,  faced  the  peril  with  calm,  level  gaze  unclouded  by  self 
ish  fears  or  bitter  rancor,  estimating  the  difficulties  and  meas 
uring  his  ability  to  meet  them. 

Seeking  to  conciliate  both  sides,  he  seemed  to  both  to  be 
uncertain,  hesitating  and  vacillating.  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in 
his  Kenilworth,  likens  the  mind  of  Queen  Elizabeth  to  one 
of  the  balanced  rocks  of  the  Druids.  ' '  The  finger  of  Cupid, 
boy  though  he  was  painted,  could  set  her  feelings  in  mo 
tion,  but  the  power  of  Hercules  could  not  destroy  their 
eqiiilibrium. "  So  Lincoln  seemed  to  incline  from  the  one 
side  to  the  other  of  the  conflicting  forces  about  him,  but 
easily  as  he  responded  to  the  pressure  of  any  of  them,  there 
was  not  power  enough  in  them  all  to  overthrow  his  bal 
ance.  He  had  fixed  his  purpose  upon  the  maintenance  of 
the  Union,  and  to  this  purpose  any  plan  relative  to  slavery 
must  be  secondary.  Unable  to  persuade  the  radicals  of 
either  side,  he  was  yet  able  to  hold  them  to  his  policy  of 
waiting  upon  events.  ...  As  so  often  happens,  extremes 
were  working  to  the  same  end  —  separation.  .  .  .  Nothing 
could  be  gained  for  freedom  by  casting  off  the  slave  States. 
More,  much  more,  would  be  done  by  holding  together.  .  .  . 
Both  might  easily  have  been  lost  if  the  attempt  to  realize 
both  had  been  made  too  soon,  and  that  they  were  not,  hu 
manity  owes  to  the  wisdom,  the  patience,  and  the  gentleness 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.1 

Of  course  he  moved  too  fast  for  some  and  too  slow  for  others, 
and  elite  statesmen  affected  to  regard  his  profoundest  policy 
as  a  mano3uver  of  rustic  ignorance  and  incapacity.  His  cau 
tion  was  mistaken  for  irresolution,  and  because  he  desired  to 
be  just,  even  to  the  South,  he  was  thought  to  be  weak  and 
unsteady  of  purpose.  Never  for  a  day  did  he  imagine,  after 

his  country  and  tried  to  save  the  Union." — The  Compromises  of  Life, 
by  Henry  Watterson,  pp.  150-151  (1903). 

*  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  F.  W.  Lehmann   (1909). 


344  LINCOLN  AND  HERN  DON 

the  manner  of  the  complacent  bigot,  that  all  right  was  on  one 
side  and  all  wrong  on  the  other,  knowing  that  there  was  pres 
ent  fault  in  the  North  to  temper  obvious  folly  in  the  South. 
He  knew  that  slavery  was  fixed  in  the  law  of  the  land,  con 
fessed  in  the  Constitution  and  sanctioned  by  the  courts,  and 
his  oath  of  office  was  a  vow  to  obey  the  law.  Without  modi 
fying  his  "oft-expressed  personal  wish  that  all  men,  every 
where,  could  be  free, ' '  he  was  ready  to  secure  the  slave  States 
in  their  rights  under  the  Constitution,  and  even  by  amend 
ment  to  make  explicit  what  he  knew  to  be  implied  in  that 
document.  But  he  knew,  also,  that  slavery  was  wrong,  and 
that  it  would  have  to  go  at  last,  because  the  increasing  kind 
ness  and  justice  of  the  world  were  against  it.  If  he  would  not 
consent  to  disunion,  neither  would  he  go  to  war  without  first 
appealing  to  the  souls  of  men.  Hence  the  lofty,  half-plaintive 
words  of  his  First  Inaugural,  which  must  have  had  a  strange 
echo  when  they  were  uttered,  but  which,  happily,  may  now 
be  read  as  a  prophecy  fulfilled  before  our  eyes : 

I  am  loth  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies  but  friends.  We 
must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained 
it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic  chords 
of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battle-field  and  patriotic 
grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  the 
broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union  when 
again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels 
of  our  nature. 

Many  have  conjectured  as  to  what  Lincoln  would  have  done 
had  the  South  played  warily,  refrained  from  insult,  put  forth 
a  temperate  and  modest  manifesto,  setting  forth  the  apparent 
impracticability  of  a  political  union  between  peoples  so  rad 
ically  different  in  social  structure,  and  appealing  to  the  North 
to  consent  to  a  friendly  separation.  No  doubt  he  would  have 
hesitated  to  fire  the  first  gun,  but  it  is  almost  certain  that  he 
would  have  fired  it  rather  than  see  the  Union,  which  he  had 
sworn  to  uphold,  go  to  pieces.  Fortunately,  or  unfortunately, 
it  was  not  to  be  so,  for  the  South  was  in  no  temper  for  a  wait 
ing  game.  Sumter  was  fired  upon  —  not  without  provocation 


THE  SENIOR  PARTNER 


—  the  divided  North  was  cemented  in  the  flame  of  patriotic 
ardor,  and  the  nation  joined  in  a  war  for  the  Union. 


From  the  fall  of  Arthur  Ladd,  its  first  victim,  to  its  closing 
scene,  that  was  the  saddest  and  the  noblest  war  that  ever 
raged — a  Nemesis  of  national  sin  and  the  birth  throes  of  a 
new  nation  and  a  new  era.  Through  it  all  Lincoln  kept  his 
patience,  his  gentleness,  his  faith,  and  his  clear,  cool  reason, 
his  face  wearing  amidst  the  storm  of  battle  the  grief  of  a  na 
tion  torn  and  bleeding  of  heart,  while  harassed  by  office-seek 
ers  and  lampooned  by  critics,  reviled  at  home  and  ridiculed 
abroad.1  He  demeaned  himself  so  nobly  in  that  critical  and 
testing  ordeal,  he  had  such  resources  of  sagacity,  such  refine 
ments  of  sympathy,  such  wonderful  secrets  of  endurance,  that 
no  one  could  fail  to  be  moved  and  humbled,  if  nothing  more, 
by  intercourse  with  him.  He  stood,  as  the  central  figure  of 
the  conflict,  gentle,  strong,  and  wise,  firm  as  granite  if  need 
required,  yet  strangely  piteous  and  sad,  bearing  insult  with 
out  revenge,  doing  his  duty  as  God  gave  him  to  see  it ;  serene 
in  time  of  tumult,  and  still  the  center  of  kindness  in  a  tempest 
of  hatred. 

Simple  in  manner,  plain  of  speech,  his  quaint  humor  and 
homely  ways  gave  him  a  familiarity  of  relation  with  the  com 
mon  people  which  few  men  enjoy.  Disasters  gathered  thick 
and  fast  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and  the  tide  of  public  feel- 

1  As  for  the  attitude  of  the  English  people,  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
classes  will  be  classes.  The  Tory  press,  led  by  the  London  Times,  rid 
iculed  Lincoln  as  a  baboon,  a  buffoon,  a  clodhopper,  a  grotesque  joker 
who  sang  ribald  songs  on  a  battle-field.  Mr.  Binns,  an  admirable  Eng 
lish  biographer  of  Lincoln,  reproduces  excerpts  from  the  ruffian  British 
press,  and  they  make  strange  reading. — Life  of  Lincoln,  pp.  366-68 
(1907).  Also,  Life  of  E.  L.  GodTcin,  pp.  197-282  (1907).  On  the  other 
side  were  Cobden,  Bright,  Forster,  Goldwin  Smith,  who  saw  that  Lincoln 
was  fighting  the  battle  of  free  labor.  Carl  Marx,  too,  had  his  part,  and 
no  small  part,  in  stirring  up  the  working  people. — Life  of  Marx,  by  J. 
Spargo,  pp.  220-225  (1910).  Nor  should  any  record  omit  mention  of 
the  magnificent  oratory  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  in  the  mother  country. 


346  LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

ing  seemed  at  times  to  turn  against  him,  but  he  kept  his  wits 
and  never  lost  heart.  Beneath  a  mask  of  careless  humor  and 
guileless  simplicity  he  concealed  the  wiles  of  strategy,1  and 
was  often  most  anxiously  reticent  when  apparently  the  most 
indifferent  and  jocular.  "His  'cunning'  fairly  enters  the 
borders  of  inspiration,"  said  Evarts,  in  a  sentence  unusually 
terse  for  Evarts;  but  it  might  better  have  been  called  a  trin 
ity  of  shrewdness,  tact,  and  lightning-quickness  of  expedient, 
whereby  he  divined  the  trends  of  public  sentiment  and  piloted 
the  storm  of  war.  Amid  the  wild  passions  of  the  hour,  and  a 
babel  of  discordant  and  bitter  voices,  he  held  aloft  the  ideals 
of  peace  through  Union,  of  liberty  under  the  law,  of  fortitude 
in  defeat,  of  mercy  in  victory.  He  had  no  vanity,  no  bitter 
ness,  no  pettiness,  and  his  ingenuity  of  self-effacement  was  as 
remarkable  as  his  unwillingness  to  evade  duty  or  to  escape 
censure.  With  his  order  to  Meade  to  follow  up  the  victory  at 
Gettysburg  he  sent  a  note  which  revealed,  like  a  ray  of  white 
light,  what  manner  of  man  sat  in  the  White  House : 2 

*  Charles  A.  Dana,  who  was  assistant  Secretary  of  War  for  a  time, 
and  very  close  to  the  President,  writes :  "I  do  not  risk  anything  in 
saying  .  .  .  that  the  greatest  general  we  had,  greater  than  Grant  or 
Thomas,  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  .  .  .  Von  Moltke  was  not  a  better 
general  or  an  abler  planner  or  expounder  of  a  campaign. ' ' — Life  of 
Dana,  by  J.  H.  Wilson,  p.  315  (1907).  He  refers,  of  course,  to  the 
later  period  of  the  war.  Greeley  thought  Lincoln  was  greater  in  political 
strategy,  in  which  he  had  had  long  practice,  and  certain  it  is  that  his 
discomfiture  of  his  formidable  assailants  in  1863,  with  regard  to  the 
Vallandingham  affair,  cannot  easily  be  paralleled  for  shrewdness.  See 
the  tribute  of  J.  G.  Elaine,  Twenty  Tears  of  Congress,  Vol.  I,  pp.  546- 
49  (1884). 

2  A  letter  from  Hon.  James  Harlan,  of  Mount  Pleasant,  Iowa,  who 
was  a  member  of  the  second  Lincoln  cabinet,  to  Mr.  I.  N.  Phillips,  of 
Bloomington,  111.,  under  date  of  April  17,  1897,  is  authority  for  this 
statement.  Senator  Harlan  wrote:  "The  President  sent  an  order, 
privately,  directing  Gen.  Meade  to  follow  up  his  victory  by  an  immediate 
attack  on  Lee's  retreating  army,  and  thus,  if  possible,  prevent  the  re- 
crossing  of  the  Potomac  by  the  Confederate  forces,  accompanied  by  a 
confidential  letter  authorizing  him  to  make  the  order  public  in  case  of 
disaster,  and  in  case  of  success  to  destroy  both  the  order  and  confi 
dential  letter.  Thus  much  you  may  rely  upon  as  historically  true.  Whether 


THE  SENIOR  PARTNER 347 

This  order  is  not  of  record.  If  you  are  successful  you  may 
destroy  it,  together  with  this  note;  if  you  fail,  publish  the 
order,  and  I  will  take  the  responsibility. 

No  one  claims  that  Lincoln  was  a  master  of  political  science 
and  history ;  but  within  the  range  of  his  knowledge  and  vision, 
which  did  not  extend  far  beyond  the  Constitution  and  laws 
of  his  native  land,  he  was  a  statesman.  For  the  difficult  task 
assigned  him  he  was  supremely  fitted.  He  knew  how  to  keep 
along  with  the  temper  of  the  people,  warming  it  the  while 
with  something  of  his  own  fervor,  and  surely  no  one  else 
could  have  held  together  such  a  cabinet  which  required  so 
firm,  so  tactful,  and  withal  so  forgiving  a  chief.  No  man,  it  is 
safe  to  say,  knew  better  than  he,  equally  in  the  game  of  poli 
tics  and  in  the  larger  concerns  of  official  conduct,  how  to  draw 
the  line,  and  where  to  draw  it,  to  bring  results.  He  sanctioned, 
though  he  did  not  originate,  the  military  arrests,  in  the  sin 
cere  belief  that  the  power  was  given  him  by  the  Constitution ; 
and  his  justification  of  their  use  was  scrupulously  devoid  of 
sophistry.  That  he  made  mistakes  in  his  choice  of  men,  par 
ticularly  of  military  men,  is  admitted.  Yet  nothing  could 
direct  him  or  any  one  else  to  the  right  men  except  the  cri 
terion  of  experience,  fearfully  costly  as  it  was.  Grant  and 
Sherman  he  recognized  at  once  when  they  appeared.  Few, 
of  all  those  who  called  him  a  tyrant,  ever  charged  him  with 
personal  cruelty,1  for  he  had  set  his  heart  on  saving  life  when- 

or  not  these  papers  reached  Gen.  Meade  I  am  not  able  to  say.  I  had 
supposed,  prior  to  the  receipt  of  your  letter,  that  this  incident  had  re 
mained  unknown  for  twenty  years  after  the  eloae  of  the  war  of  the  re 
bellion  to  everybody  except  Gen.  Meade,  Eobert  T.  Lincoln,  and  myself. — 
Abraham  Lincoln,  by  I.  N.  Phillips,  p.  94  (1910). 

i  Much  has  been  written  of  the  treatment  of  prisoners  during  the 
war.  That  there  was  cruelty  on  both  sides  is  true,  but  it  was  due  rather 
to  the  inhumanity  of  subordinates  than  to  the  ruling  authorities.  Libby 
and  Andersonville  were  matched  by  Camp  Douglas,  Kock  Island,  Elmira, 
and  Point  Lookout,  where  the  mortality  of  Southern  men  was  frightful  — 
due,  of  course,  in  large  part,  to  the  cold  climate.  But  the  description  of 
Camp  Douglas  by  Henry  M.  Stanley,  who  was  a  prisoner  there,  justifies 
the  remark  of  Sherman  that  "war  is  hell,"  as  truly  as  did  the  atrocities 
of  Wirtz  at  Andersonville  —Autobiography,  pp.  205-215  (1909).  Foreiga 
observers  marveled  at  the  humanities  and  amenities  on  both  sides. 


348  LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 

ever  there  was  the  slightest  excuse;  taking  time,  amidst  har 
assing  cares,  to  mitigate  the  horror  of  war,  and  even  to  write 
to  those  who  had  lost  their  loved  ones  on  the  field  of  battle. 
His  letter  to  Mother  Bixby  is  a  classic : 

Dear  Madam : — I  have  been  shown  in  the  files  of  the  War 
Department  a  statement  of  the  Adjutant-General  of  Massa 
chusetts  that  you  are  the  mother  of  five  sons  who  have  died 
gloriously  on  the  field  of  battle.  I  feel  how  weak  and  fruit 
less  must  be  any  words  of  mine  which  should  attempt  to  be 
guile  you  from  the  grief  of  a  loss  so  overwhelming.  But  I 
cannot  refrain  from  tendering  you  the  consolation  that  may 
be  found  in  the  thanks  of  the  Republic  they  died  to  save. 
I  pray  that  our  heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the  anguish 
of  your  bereavement,  and  leave  you  only  the  cherished  mem 
ory  of  the  loved  and  lost,  and  the  solemn  pride  that  must 
be  yours  to  have  laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar 
of  freedom. 

History  has  made  record  of  those  awful  years  when  the  brav 
est  of  men,  arrayed  in  long  lines  of  blue  and  grey,  were  cut 
down  like  grass.  God  of  dreams!  what  scenes  were  those  at 
Shiloh  and  Lookout  Mountain,  at  Cold  Harbor  and  Vicksburg, 
at  Antietam  and  Atlanta,  at  Gettysburg  and  the  Wilderness, 
while  far  away  in  Northern  towns  and  Southern  hamlets  white- 
faced  women  heard  the  roll-call  of  the  dead.  Nor  did  any 
one  suffer  more  than  the  lonely  man  who  sat  in  the  telegraph 
office  and  shook  with  sobs  at  the  news  of  great  slaughter,  or 
paced  the  floor  of  the  White  House  all  night  till  dawn,  his 
groans  overheard  by  the  watchers  below.  Yet  in  no  other  way, 
save  by  travail  and  woe,  could  the  Union,  hitherto  only  an 
abstraction,  if  not  a  mere  hypostasis  of  memory  and  hope, 
become  a  reality ;  nor  was  ever  sin  atoned  for  without  shedding 
of  blood.  How  fitting,  then,  that  he  who  presided  over  that 
scene  should  stand  upon  the  great  battle-field  of  the  war  and 
utter  those  great  and  simple  words,  which  are  now,  and  ever 
shall  be,  a  part  of  the  sacred  writings  of  the  patriotic  faith 
of  this  republic: 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought  forth 
on  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty,  and 
dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created  equal. 


THE  SENIOR  PARTNER 349 

Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether 
that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated, 
can  long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battle-field  of  that 
war.  "We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a 
final  resting-place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives  that 
that  nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting  and  proper 
that  we  should  do  this. 

But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  cannot  dedicate  —  we  cannot 
consecrate  —  we  cannot  hallow  —  this  ground.  The  brave 
men,  living  and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have  consecrated 
it  far  above  our  poor  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world 
will  little  note  nor  long  remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it 
can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living, 
rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfinished  work  which 
they  who  fought  here  have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It 
is  rather  for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  re 
maining  before  us  —  that  from  these  honored  dead  we  take 
increased  devotion  to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the 
last  full  measure  of  devotion;  that  we  here  highly  resolve 
that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain;  that  this  na 
tion,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom;  and 
that  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  peo 
ple,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

Events  marched  rapidly ;  the  slaves  were  freed ;  the  armies  of 
the  South  melted  away;  and  the  hand  that  guided  the  war 
was  held  out  in  brotherly  forgiveness.1  Perhaps  the  men  of 
the  future,  looking  back  from  afar,  unbiased  and  clear-eyed, 
will  say  that  the  noblest  feat  of  the  genius  of  Lincoln  was 
the  policy  he  outlined  for  dealing  with  the  South  after  the 
war !  There  was  no  rancor  in  it,  no  gleam  of  selfish  pride  in 
power,  but  a  magnanimity  in  triumph  that  led  Tolstoi  to  say 

i  Lincoln's  Plan  of  Reconstruction,  by  C.  H.  McCarthy  (1901). 
Whether,  amid  the  bitter  passions  of  the  hour,  he  could  have  carried 
out  such  a  policy  is  open  to  conjecture;  but  he  would  have  tried  it. 
Southern  men  were  surprised  to  know  of  his  lenient  spirit,  as  may  be 
seen  from  the  conversation  between  General  Gordon  and  E.  B.  Wash- 
burn  at  Appomattox. — Eeminiscences  of  the  War,  by  J.  B.  Gordon,  pp. 
450-52  (1903).  Had  the  men  who  did  the  talking  been  as  brave  and 
generous  as  the  men  who  did  the  fighting,  the  result  would  have  been 
different.  Alas,  there  were  those  of  his  own  party  in  the  North  who 
regarded  the  death  of  Lincoln  as  a  godsend  to  the  country. — Life  of 
Lincoln,  by  J.  T.  Morse,  Vol.  II,  p.  350  (1896). 


350  LINCOLN  AND  HERNDQN 

that  he  was  "a  Christ  in  miniature."  His  words  had  in  them, 
towards  the  end,  a  tenderly  solemn,  seer-like  quality  of  blend 
ed  prophecy  and  pity.  There  was  on  him,  then,  something  of 
that  touch  of  gentleness  in  sadness,  as  if  presaging  doom; 
and  this  it  was  that  men  felt  when  they  caught  his  eye,  which 
so  many  said  they  could  never  forget.  His  death,  coming  at 
such  an  hour,  filled  the  nation  with  an  awe  akin  to  that  evoked 
by  the  great  tragedies  —  something  of  inevitability,  much  of 
mystery,  as  impossible  to  account  for  as  it  is  to  measure  the 
heavens  or  to  interpret  the  voices  of  the  winds. 

VI 

It  has  been  said  —  by  Thomas  Carlyle  —  that  the  religion  of 
a  man  is  the  chief  fact  with  regard  to  him.  If  we  seek  for  that 
primary  thing  in  Lincoln,  it  is  found  not  in  his  use  of  Bible 
imagery  —  though  parts  of  the  Bible  were  written  in  his 
memory  —  nor  yet  in  his  words  of  goodwill  to  the  men  of  this 
or  that  sect,  but  in  the  fiber  of  his  soul,  the  quality  of  his 
mind,  and  most  of  all  in  the  open  book  of  his  life.  In  his 
elemental  qualities  of  courage,  honor,  and  loyalty  to  the  truth, 
his  melting  pity  and  his  delicate  justice,  the  faith  on  which 
he  acted  is  unveiled  as  it  could  not  be  revealed  in  any  list  of 
dogmas.  His  mind  was  so  moral,  and  his  morality  so  intelli 
gent,  that  his  faith  was  in  him  as  color  is  in  a  rose,  as  the 
grain  is  in  the  oak. 

Of  the  skyey  genius  of  Plato  and  Emerson  he  had  none. 
His  mind  was  profound  and  penetrating,  but  always  prac 
tical  ;  and  such  a  mind  is  never  radical,  nor  does  it  outrun  the 
facts  to  inquire  what  the  end  of  things  will  be.  It  deals  with 
realities,  not  theories,  suspects  its  own  aspirations,  and  is  con 
tent  to  take  one  step  at  a  time.  He  knew  not  "the  great  es- 
capings  of  ecstatic  souls, ' '  and  it  is  a  pity  that  he  did  not,  for 
the  memory  of  such  hours  would  have  brightened  his  some 
what  arid  journey  with  oases  of  lucid  joy.  Years  of  medita 
tion  had  brought  him  a  faith  of  his  own  —  a  kind  of  sublime 
fatalism  in  which  truth  and  right  will  win  as  surely  as  suns 
rise  and  set.  This  assurance  fed  his  soul  and  was  the  hidden 


THE  SENIOR  PARTNER 351 

spring  of  his  strength,  his  patient  valor,  and  his  unbending 
firmness;  the  secret  at  once  of  his  character  and  of  his  pro 
phetic  insight.  Holding  to  the  moral  order  of  the  world,  he 
knew  that  truth  will  prevail  whatever  may  be  the  posture 
of  the  hour.  In  his  moods  of  melancholy,  which  were  many 
and  bitter,  he  threw  himself  upon  this  confidence,  not  so  much 
in  formal  prayer  —  though  that  was  the  last  resort  —  as  in  a 
deep  inner  assurance  in  which  he  found  peace. 

Yet,  for  all  his  solid  common  sense,  his  fine  poise  of  reason, 
and  his  wise  humor,  at  bottom  Lincoln  was  a  mystic  1 —  that  is, 
one  who  felt  that  the  Unseen  has  secrets  which  are  known  only 
by  minds  fine  enough  to  see  and  hear  them.  The  truth  is  that, 
in  common  with  all  the  great  leaders  of  men,  he  himself  had 
much  of  that  fineness  of  soul  —  a  window  opening  into  the 
Unseen,  whence  he  drew  his  strength  and  charm.  This  it 
was  that  gave  to  his  words  a  quality  of  their  own,  and  they 
seem  to  this  day  full  of  ever  new  prophetic  meanings.  No 
man  of  state  in  this  land  ever  made  so  deep  a  religious  im 
pression  and  appeal  as  Lincoln  did  in  his  last  days,  when  the 
very  soul  of  the  man  shone  in  his  great  sad  face,  in  his  words 
and  works  of  mercy,  in  the  dignity  and  pathos  of  his  life,  in 
his  solicitude  to  heal  the  dreadful  wounds  of  war.  Such  a 
character  inspires  a  kind  of  awe;  men  bow  to  it,  and  are 
touched  with  a  mingled  feeling  of  wonder,  sadness,  and  hope. 

Such  a  man  the  times  demanded,  and  such  in  the  Provi 
dence  of  God  was  given  to  his  nation  and  his  age.  On  the 
virgin  soil  of  the  West  he  grew,  a  man,  as  Grady  said,  in  whose 

1  For  a  suggestive  study  of  the  mystical  element  in  Lincoln,  see 
Abraham  Lincoln,  by  S.  Schechter  (1909).  As  a  lad  in  far  off  Eou- 
mania  the  author,  now  president  of  the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary 
of  America,  read  the  story  of  Lincoln  in  the  Hebrew  papers,  and  longed 
to  live  in  a  land  where  such  a  man  could  grow.  His  comparison  between 
Lincoln  the  story-teller  and  the  old  Hebrew  parabolists  is  most  inter 
esting.  Also,  Religious  Convictions  of  Lincoln,  by  C.  O.  Poole  (1885), 
where  Mr.  Herndon  is  quoted  as  writing:  "I  maintain  that  Lincoln 
was  deeply  religious  in  all  times  and  places,  in  spite  of  his  transient 
doubts.  Sometimes  it  appeared  to  me  that  his  soul  was  just  fresh 
from  the  presence  of  the  Creator."  Also,  The  Inner  Life  of  Lincoln, 
by  F.  B.  Carpenter  (1867). 


352 LINCOLN  AND  HEBNDON 

ample  nature  the  virtues  of  Puritan  and  Cavalier  were  blend 
ed,  and  in  the  depths  of  whose  great  soul  the  faults  of  both 
were  lost  —  ' '  not  a  law-breaker,  but  a  law-maker ;  a  fighter, 
but  for  peace;  a  calm,  grave,  strong  man;  formidable,  sad; 
facing  down  injustice,  dishonesty,  and  crime;  and  'dying  in 
his  boots'  in  defense  of  an  ideal  —  of  all  world  types  distinct 
ive  to  us,  peculiar,  particular,  and  unique. ' '  Simple  as  ^Esop, 
yet  subtle  as  an  oriental ;  meditative  as  Marcus  Aurelius,  yet 
blithe  as  Mark  Twain ;  as  much  of  a  democrat  as  Walt  Whit 
man,  yet  devoid  of  that  vague,  dreamy  egotism;  he  stood  in 
the  White  House  a  high  priest  of  humanity  in  this  land,  where 
are  being  wrought  the  highest  ideals  of  the  race.  He  was  a 
prophet  of  the  political  religion  of  his  country  —  tall  of  soul, 
gentle,  just,  and  wise,  and  of  his  fame  there  will  be  no  end. 

Still,  and  always,  when  we  look  back  at  Lincoln,  and  see 
him  amid  the  vicissitudes  of  his  life,  it  is  the  man  that  we 
honor  —  a  plain,  honest,  kindly  man,  clear  of  head  and  sound 
of  heart,  full  equally  of  pity  and  humor,  who  knew  that  hu 
manity  is  deeply  wounded  and  tried  to  heal  it,  caring  much 
more  to  deserve  praise  than  to  possess  it  —  a  fellow  to  the 
finest,  rarest,  truest  souls  now  or  ever  to  be  "citizens  of 
eternity. ' ' 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ABOLITIONISTS:  55;  convention  of, 
61;  and  Lincoln,  62;  and  Hern- 
don,  71;  and  Prohibition,  77;  at 
Decatur  convention,  88;  in  1856, 
99;  Lincoln's  fear  of,  124;  and 
Democrats,  143;  never  forgave 
Taney,  175  note;  on  defeat  of 
Lincoln,  238;  Beecher  not  one 
of,  265  note;  as  leaders,  337. 

Adams,  C.  F. :   218 

Adams,  J.  Q. :  25;  died  in  Con 
gress,  25 

Amalgamation  of  races:  Lincoln 
against,  121 

Anti-Nebraska  men:  55;  majority 
in  Legislature,  69,  73;  editor's 
convention,  88 ;  at  Bloomington, 
93 

Arnold,  I.  N. :  on  Charleston  de 
bate,  214  note;  Herndon's  letter 
to,  292;  history  of  Lincoln's  ad 
ministration,  293 ;  Herndon  helps, 
308;  just  to  Douglas,  308  note; 
rebuke  to  the  press,  323  note 

Atchison,  David  R. :   54 

Atlantic  Monthly:  article  in  by 
Lowell,  145  note;  article  by 
Parker  in,  162;  review  of  Hern 
don  biography,  313. 

Aurelius,  Marcus:  and  Lincoln,  352 

BAKER,  E.  H. :  10;  for  Congress, 
19 ;  at  the  bar,  22 ;  on  circuit,  46 

Banks,  Gov. :  elected,  86 ;  for  Doug 
las,  153;  Parker  on,  218;  men 
tioned  for  President,  265 

Bates,  Edward:  265;  Greeley  for, 
272 ;  named  for  President,  273 

Beecher,   Edward :    8 

Beecher,  H.  W. :  lectures  in  Spring 


field,  83;  Parker  on,  84;  Hern 
don  on,  87;  Herndon  visits,  152; 
Parker  reviews  book  of,  162 ;  and 
John  Brown,  265  note;  not  an 
Abolitionist,  265  note;  Lincoln 
visits,  267;  for  Lincoln  for  Presi 
dent,  267  note;  oratory  of  in 
England,  345  note 

Bell,  John:  for  President,  265; 
nominated,  274;  vote  for,  276 

Benton,  T.  H.:  55 

Bernays,  Chas:  227 

Bible,  the :  study  of  by  Lincoln,  41, 
250 

Biography,  of  Lincoln:  289;  Hern 
don's  ideal  of,  291;  by  Arnold, 
308;  Herdon's  motives  in,  309. 

Bissell,  W.  H. :  for  Governor,  94; 
appoints  Herndon  to  office,  115 

Bixby,  Mother:  letter  to,  348 

' '  Black  Code :  "  4 

Black  Hawk  war :  6 ;  Lincoln  in,  33 

Elaine,  J.  G.:  letter  to  Lincoln, 
235  note;  quoted,  282 

Blair,  Frank :  emancipationist,  114, 
159;  for  Douglas,  228;  at  Chi 
cago  convention,  272 

Blair,  Montgomery:  98  note 

Booth,  J.  W.:  20;  at  execution  of 
John  Brown,  261  note 

Breckenridge,  J.  C. :  167 ;  nominat 
ed  for  President,  274;  vote  for, 
276 

Brooks,  ' '  Bully : ' '  assaults  Summer, 

94;  cotton-gin  dogma,  229 
Brown,    John:      118;     and     Gerrit 
Smith  and  Parker,  140 ;  life  of  by 
Sanborn,  259  note;  raid  of,  260; 
execution    of,    261;    Lincoln    on, 


356 


LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 


263 ;  Herndon  on,  264 ;  not  a  Re 
publican,  270 

Bryant,  W.  C. :  on  Helper 's  book, 
159;  quoted  by  Lincoln,  171;  at 
Cooper  Union,  267;  on  Lincoln's 
speech,  269 

Buchanan,  James:  elected,  103; 
and  Dred  Scott  case,  108 ;  Hern 
don  on,  110;  and  Kansas,  129; 
break  with  Douglas,  130;  Doug 
las's  victory  over,  132;  fights 
Douglas  in  Illinois,  133;  Parker 
on,  137;  henchmen  hold  conven 
tion,  167;  in  Egypt,  210;  at 
tacked  by  Douglas,  224;  failure 
aa  President,  335 

Burke,  Edmund:  50;  life  of,  155; 
recalled  by  Herndon,  314 

Burns,  Eobert:  Lincoln's  love  of, 
250 

CALHOUN,  J.  C. :  debate  with  Lin 
coln,  10;  Lecompton  leader,  129; 
charged  with  forgery,  143 

Calhoun,  J.  C.,  of  South  Carolina: 
in  Congress,  25 ;  calls  for  war,  47 

Cameron,  Simon:  272;  named  for 
President,  273 

Campbell,  J.  A.:  at  Hampton 
Roads,  28 

Carr,  C.  E. :  on  Douglas,  189  note, 
191  note;  denies  Freeport  confer 
ence,  199  note 

Cartter,  David:   274 

Cartwright,  Peter:  23;  Autobio 
graphy,  24  note 

Charleston,  111. :  debate  at,  212 

Chase,  S.  P.:  148;  on  Supreme 
Court,  175  note;  Parker's  second 
choice,  218 ;  speaks  for  Lincoln, 
231;  Lincoln  writes  to,  244; 
named  at  Chicago,  273 ;  and  Lin 
coln,  342  note 

Chicago :  a  village,  3 ;  Lincoln  in 
vited  to,  39;  Douglas  hissed  in, 


56;  reception  to  Douglas,  179; 
Lincoln  replies  to  Douglas  in, 
181;  TrumbulPs  speech,  197; 
meeting  of  Douglas,  Greeley  in, 
215;  convention  in  1860,  271; 
mourns  for  Douglas,  286 

Circuit,  the  Eighth :  11 ;  Lincoln  re 
turns  to,  39;  its  practice,  43; 
story-telling  on,  44;  Lincoln's 
outfit  on,  45;  Judge  Davis  on,  46; 
Lincoln's  love  of,  46 

Clay,  Cassius  M. :    159 

Clay,  Henry:  23,  26;  Lincoln  ideal, 
29,  269;  valedictory  of,  47;  Lin 
coln's  eulogy  of,  50;  work  un 
done,  53 ;  and  Douglas,  59 :  eman 
cipationist,  159;  praised  by 
Douglas,  182;  name  conjured 
with,  228;  Lincoln  on,  229 

Cobb,  Howell:   25 

Codding,  Ichabod:  62;  notice  to 
Lincoln,  62;  helps  organize  Abo 
litionists,  71 ;  at  Bloomington,  94 

Cook,  B.  C. :  54  note ;_  for  Trum- 
bull,  70;  at  Chicago  convention, 
273 

Cooper  Institute:  Lincoln  speech 
at,  266 

Compromise,  see  Missouri 

Compromise:  of  1850,  47;  fatal 
flaw  in,  48;  Lincoln  indifferent 
to,  50 

Corwin,  Thomas:  25;  on  Phillips 's 
speech,  265;  at  Chicago  conven 
tion,  272 

Crittenden,  J.  J. :  against  Lincoln, 
231;  letter  of,  234;  plan  of  com 
promise,  282 

Curtis,  Judge  B.  R. :  74;  Parker 
flays,  78;  Herndon  on,  78 

DANA,  CHARLES  A. :  on  Lincoln  as 

a  general,  346  note 
Darwin,  Chas. :  and  Lincoln,  254 
Davis,  Judge  David :  on  circuit,  44, 


INDEX 


357 


46;  in  Chicago  convention,  272; 
"Lincoln  ain't  here,"  273 

Davis,  Jefferson:  6;  in  Senate,  25; 
quoted  by  Douglas,  228 ;  referred 
to  by  Lincoln,  258 

Debates,  Lincoln  and  Douglas:  be 
ginnings  of,  58;  best  account  of, 
166  note;  Lincoln  challenge,  184; 
places  of,  186;  excitement  of, 
192;  at  Ottawa,  193-6;  at  Free- 
port,  200;  "blue-hot,"  203;  bad 
manners  of  Douglas  in,  205;  at 
Jonesboro,  210;  at  Charleston, 
212;  hard  work  of,  224;  at 
Galesburg,  225;  at  Quincy,  226; 
Mrs.  Douglas  in,  227;  at  Alton, 
227;  Lincoln's  last  speech  in, 
229;  Lincoln's  art  in,  230;  did 
not  end  campaign,  230 

Decatur,  111. :  convention  of  editors, 
88 ;  Lincoln  endorsed  at,  271 

Delahay,  Mark:  271  note 

Democrats,  The:  6,  10;  sure' of  vic 
tory,  24;  and  Mexican  war,  27; 
and  Lewis  Cass,  32 ;  Lincoln  ridi 
cules,  33;  and  Springfield  dis 
trict,  36 ;  and  Pierce,  49 ;  or  Ab 
olitionists,  50;  flop  of  in  Illinois 
legislature,  54  note;  anti-slave 
men  among,  55;  insurgents,  70; 
and  Lyman  Trumbull,  71 ;  de 
feated  for  senate,  72 ;  and  Ne 
braska  Bill,  90;  Wentworth, 
Judd,  and  Koerner,  93 ;  defeat  of 
in  Illinois,  99;  elect  Buchanan, 
103;  and  Dred  Scott  case,  115; 
Parker  on,  124;  division  among, 
130;  fight  Douglas,  134;  press 
of  in  Illinois,  135;  and  the 
South,  139;  Douglas  breaches, 
148;  convention  of,  167;  Buchan 
an  faction  of,  167;  charged  with 
conspiracy,  175;  prodded  by 
Herndon,  188 ;  of  North  and 
South,  200 ;  indifferent  to  slavery, 


227;  leave  slave  states,  229; 
fraud  practiced  by,  232;  gerry 
mander  Illinois,  234;  Greeley  on, 
240;  and  Douglas  in  1860,  242; 
Douglas  speaks  for  in  Ohio,  257; 
divided  in  1860,  274;  exit  from 
power  a  revolution,  339 

Dickey,  Judge  T.  L. :  on  Lincoln's 
radical  speech,  57;  and  Lincoln, 
127;  criticises  Lincoln,  169,  177; 
deserts  Lincoln,  231 

Dixon,  Senator  A.:  53  note 

Douglas,  Mrs.  Adele:  132;  in  the 
debates,  227 

Douglas,  S.  A.:  defeated  by  Stu 
art,  7;  criticised  by  Ford,  7  note; 
in  Speed's  store,  10;  and  Mary 
Todd,  14 ;  at  the  bar,  22 ;  in  Sen 
ate,  25 ;  and  ' '  Spot  Eesolutions, ' ' 
36;  in  1850,  47;  dreaming  of 
Presidency,  49;  and  repeal  of 
Missouri  Compromise,  53 ;  mo 
tives  of,  54  note;  hissed  in  Chi 
cago,  56;  Lincoln  jealous  of,  58; 
Lincoln  replies  to,  60-2;  and 
"Peoria  Truce,"  68;  debates 
with  Lovejoy,  69;  Herndon  on, 
76;  and  Koerner,  89;  feeling 
against,  113;  praises  Dred  Scott 
decision,  117;  denounced  by 
Herndon,  118;  answered  by  Lin 
coln,  119-21;  "a  scoundrel," 
122;  "genius  of  discord,"  127; 
and  Kansas,  129;  and  Buchanan, 
130 ;  power  of  in  nation,  130 ; 
against  Lecompton  fraud,  131; 
indifference  to  slavery,  132; 
Herndon  on  his  motives,  133; 
break  with  his  party,  134;  watch 
ed  by  Herndon,  135 ;  "  a  political 
buzzard,"  136;  Parker  on,  138; 
"dog-fight"  with  Buchanan, 
139;  denounced  by  Southern 
press,  140 ;  charges  Calhoun  with 
forgery,  143 ;  not  guilty  of 


358 


LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 


Toombs  Bill,  144;  flirts  with  Re 
publican  party,  145;  wins  Gree- 
ley,  Wilson,  and  Golf  ax,  147; 
Wilson  on,  148;  Parker  hears 
him  speak,  148  note;  visited  by 
Herndon,  151 ;  defies  enemies, 
152 ;  New  England  Eepublicans 
for,  152;  and  "English  Bill," 
162;  "Hell's  Prophet,"  165;  en 
dorsed  for  Senate,  167 ;  "  a  tooth 
less  lion,"  176;  the  "little  dodg 
er,"  177;  reception  in  Chicago, 
179;  opening  speech,  180;  travels 
in  state,  182 ;  fears  Lincoln  in  de 
bate,  184;  makes  dates  of  de 
bates,  186 ;  calls  conspiracy 
charge  a  lie,  188;  hard  to  be  just 
to,  189;  lovable  traits  of,  190; 
as  an  orator,  190-1;  at  Ottawa, 
194;  and  Lincoln,  196;  Freeport 
doctrine  of  not  new,  200;  bad 
manners  of,  205;  war  on  clergy, 
206;  arrangement  with  Greeley, 
209;  at  Charleston,  214;  com 
pact  with  Greeley  and  Weed,  215 ; 

"  agrees  to  support  Seward,  216; 
Greeley 's  letter  on,  223;  worn 
out  in  debate,  224;  expenses  of, 
224;  becomes  sectional,  225;  ob- 
tuseness  as  to  slavery,  226; 
quotes  Davis,  228;  elected  to  sen 
ate,  238;  Parker  on,  239;  Hern 
don  's  fear  of,  242 ;  essay  in 
Harper 's  Magazine,  257 ;  and  the 
Bible,  258;  nominated  for  Presi 
dency,  274;  takes  stump,  275; 
vote  for,  276;  at  Lincoln's  in 
augural,  285;  his  vision  of  war, 
285  note;  goes  to  unify  Illinois, 
285;  speaks  at  Springfield  and 
Chicago,  286;  death  of,  286; 
Watterson's  tribute  to,  342  note 

Douglass,  Fred:    194 

Dred  Scott  Case:  history  of,  98 
note;  decision  of,  108;  Herndon 


on,  111;  Southern  press  on,  115; 
Lincoln  on,  120;  Douglas  dodges, 
181;  in  Lincoln-Douglas  debates, 
195;  Lincoln  analyzes,  210;  and 
negro  citizenship,  213 
Dubois,  J,  K. :  at  Bloomington,  94 ; 
in  Chicago  convention,  272; 
"damn  Lincoln,"  273 

EASTMAN,  Z. :  55  note,  visits  Hern 
don,  62  note;  at  Bloomington 
convention,  94 

' '  Bgypt  '• ' '  against  Prohibition,  77 ; 
sentiment  in,  206;  Herndon  vis 
its  "on  the  sly,"  207;  smitten 
by  a  plague,  210;  Buchanan  men 
in,  210 ;  against  Lincoln,  234 

Emancipation,  Proclamation  of: 
341 

Emancipationists:   114 

Emerson,  E.  W. :  83;  and  Lincoln, 
254,  350;  and  John  Brown,  261 
note 

Euclid:  study  of  by  Lincoln,  41; 
on  the  circuit,  44;  a  liar,  214 

Everett,  Edward :  142 ;  fattened  for 
President,  202;  beating  bushes 
for  votes,  218;  on  "kangaroo 
ticket,"  274 

FATALISM  OF  LINCOLN:  38,  171, 
302,  328;  philosophy  of,  330 

Fell,  Jesse;   270 

Field,  Roswell,  and  Dred  Scott 
case :  98 

Fillmore,  Millard:  meets  Lincoln, 
36;  Know-Nothing  candidate,  97 

Fontaine,  Felix:   29  note 

Ford,  Gov.  Thomas:  7  note 

Forgery:  charged  against  State 
Register,  123;  and  Calhoun,  143; 
at  Ottawa,  207 

Free-State  men:  in  Kansas,  128; 
majority  in  legislature,  129;  fol 
low  Douglas,  132 


INDEX 


359 


Freeport,  debate  at :  200 ;  bad  man 
ners  of  Douglas  at,  205 

"Freeport  doctrine:"  117,  199; 
influence  of,  200;  Lincoln  an 
alyzes,  210 

Fremont,  J.  C. :  97;  defeat  of,  100 

Fugitive  slave  law :  48 ;  in  cam 
paign  of  1852,  49;  and  Theodore 
Parker,  74;  Lincoln  on,  229 

GALESBUKG:  debate  at,  225 

Garrison,  W.  L. :  Herndon  writes 
to,  51 ;  his  Liberator  read  by  Lin 
coln,  62  note;  persecuted,  74;  op 
portunity  for,  141;  Herndon  vis 
its,  154;  solidity  of,  266;  de 
nounced  Constitution,  337  note 

Germans :  kill  Prohibition,  77 ;  nom 
inate  Fremont,  97;  Lincoln  on, 
98;  Herndon  studies  philosophy 
of,  254 ;  and  Lincoln,  256 

Gettysburg  address:  348 

Giddings,  Joshua :  25 ;  and  Lincoln, 
37;  Herndon  writes  to,  51; 
speaks  in  Springfield,  83;  scorned 
by  Douglas,  194 ;  at  Chicago  con 
vention,  271 

Gillespie,  Joseph:    70 

Globe  Tavern:  17 

Grady,  Henry  W. :  on  Lincoln,  351 

Grant,  U.  S. :  287;  recognized  by 
Lincoln,  347 

Greeley,  Horace:  champions  Doug 
las,  145;  visits  Douglas,  147; 
Herndon  visits,  151;  argues  for 
Douglas,  153 ;  injures  Illinois  Re 
publicans,  163;  letter  to  Hern 
don,  164;  influence  of  feared 
175;  Parker  flays,  201;  arrange 
ment  with  Douglas,  200;  com 
pact  to  defeat  Lincoln,  215;  his 
course  explained,  217;  hurts  Lin 
coln,  219 ;  blistered  by  Herndon, 
222;  letter  to  Herndon,  223; 
helped  to  defeat  Lincoln,  234; 


his  letter  of  defense,  240;  Hern- 
don's  letter  on,  245;  for  Bates, 
265;  Kellogg  after,  266;  hears 
Cooper  Institute  speech,  267;  at 
Chicago  convention,  271 ;  against 
Seward,  271 ;  on  Lincoln  '3  health, 
287;  on  Lincoln's  saving  the 
Union,  288;  on  Lincoln's  strat 
egy,  346  note 

HAMLIN,  HANNIBAL:  274 

Hammond,  Senator:  denounces  Le- 
compton  fraud,  147;  referred  to 
by  Parker,  239 ;  Herndon  on,  243 

Hampton  Eoads:  Conference  at, 
28-9 

Hanks,  Dennis:  320  note 

Hanks,  John:  271 

Hanks,  Nancy:  raised  by  her  aunt, 
320  note;  record  of  marriage, 
321;  pure  memory  of,  320 

Hardin,  J.  J. :  for  Congress,  19; 
killed  in  Mexican  war,  25 

Harris,  T.  L. :  for  Congress,  63 
note;  his  eyes  opened,  141;  Gree 
ley  pleads  for,  164;  letter  of 
Greeley  about,  223 

Hay,  John:  193  note;  on  Lincoln, 
318 

Helper,  H.  E. :  writes  Impending 
Crisis,  158 ;  frenzy  of,  159 

Herndon,  Archer  G. :  3,  4;  in  "long 
nine, "  6 ;  pro-slavery  man,  8 

Herndon,  Mary  J. :  11;  death  of, 
284  note 

Herndon,  Rowan:   4 

Herndon,  William  H. :  injustice  to, 
1 ;  ancestry  of,  2 ;  birth  of,  3 ;  as 
boy  with  Lincoln,  4;  Calhoun  a 
teacher  of,  6;  becomes  Abolition 
ist,  8;  clerks  for  Speed,  9;  stu 
dent  and  radical,  10;  marriage 
of,  11;  characteristics  of,  18; 
contrasted  with  Lincoln,  21; 
their  office,  22 ;  and  Mexican  war, 


360 


LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 


27;  letters  from  Lincoln,  27,  30; 
lectured  by  Lincoln,  31 ;  warns 
Lincoln,  36 ;  Lincoln 's  advice  to, 
41 ;  poor  collector,  43 ;  last  Whig 
vote  of,  51 ;  studies  slavery,  51 ; 
mayor  of  Springfield,  52 ;  and 
"Peoria  truce,"  69;  saves  Lin 
coln  from  Abolitionists,  71 ;  writes 
to  Theodore  Parker,  72;  corre 
spondence  with  Parker,  75 ;  on 
Douglas  and  Trumbull,  76;  a 
Prohibitionist,  77 ;  speech  against 
rum  men,  78 ;  scores  Douglas,  S-  ; 
on  Giddings  and  Beecher,  83 ; 
"violently  all  right,"  84;  love 
of  South,  86 ;  mentioned  for  Gov 
ernor,  92 ;  forces  Lincoln  into 
Republican  party,  93;  at  Bloom- 
ington,  94 ;  on  Lincoln 's  radical 
speech,  95 ;  his  "  mass  meeting, ' ' 
97 ;  and  Parker 's  lecture,  99 ;  cru 
sader  against  slavery,  101 ;  as  a 
nature  lover,  104;  his  library. 
106;  studies  philosophy,  107;  on 
Buchanan,  Kansas,  and  Dred 
Scott,  110;  predicts  war,  111; 
reads  public  pulse,  113;  appoint 
ed  bank  examiner,  115;  editorial 
on  Douglas,  118;  a  bitter  letter 
of  119;  and  a  fugitive  slave,  123; 
on  motives  of  Douglas.  133;  rad 
ical  as  John  Brown,  140 ;  goes 
to  Washington,  150;  "looks 
Douglas  in  the  eye,"  151;  sees 
Trumbull  and  Seward,  151 ;  vis 
its  Beecher,  152;  writes  to  Lin 
coln,  153 ;  visits  Garrison,  Phil 
lips,  and  Parker,  154;  in  Music 
Hall,  154 ;  impressions  of  New 
England,  156;  admires  Garrison. 
157;  reads  Impending  Crisis, 
159 ;  on  revivals,  160 ;  knew  Lin 
coln  's  moods,  168 ;  hears  Lincoln 
read  speech,  170;  outlook  on  can 
vass  of  1858,  177-79;  activity  in 


campaign,  187;  as  an  orator, 
187;  on  Trumbull 's  speech,  197; 
on  Freeport  debate,  202 ;  his  pol 
itical  map  of  Illinois,  203;  tells 
of  Douglas-Greeley  compact,  215 ; 
denounces  Greeley,  218;  writes 
for  Eastern  papers,  218;  letter 
from  Greeley,  223;  foresees  de 
feat  of  Lincoln,  233;  on  con 
spiracy  against  party,  241;  on 
political  situation,  245;  prayer 
for  Parker,  248;  estimate  of  by 
Zane,  251;  as  a  raconteur,  254; 
advises  Lincoln  to  speak  in  New 
York,  259 ;  on  John  Brown,  264 ; 
represents  Lincoln  at  Convention, 
272;  in  canvass  of  1860,  275; 
last  talk  with  Lincoln  in  office, 
278 ;  letters  to  about  Lincoln, 
280 ;  reply  to  Henry  Wilson,  282 ; 
letter  to  Trumbull,  284;  visits 
Lincoln  in  White  House,  284;  in 
campaign  of  1864,  287;  memorial 
address  on  Lincoln.  288 ;  helps 
biographers,  289  note;  lectures 
on  Lincoln,  290;  letter  on  Lin 
coln.  291;  delay  of  his  biography. 
293 ;  his  store  of  Lincoln  materi 
al,  294;  description  of,  299;  part 
nership  with  Zane,  300;  with 
Orendorff ,  303 ;  and  J.  W.  Weik, 
304 ;  tribute  to  by  Horace  White. 
306;  by  Weik,  305;  letters  to 
White,  306;  death  of,  309;  his 
biography  of  Lincoln.  313-15;  in 
justice  to,  318 ;  error  as  to  Lin 
coln 's  ancestry,  320;  not  a  liar, 
322  note;  description  of  Lincoln, 
323;  on  Lincoln's  intellect,  326; 
his  portrayal  of  Lincoln,  331  . 

Higginson.  T.  W.:   74 

Hitt,  R.   R.:   reporter  for  Lincoln. 
192;  tribute  to,  192  note 

Howells,  W.   D. :    Life   of  Lincoln, 
280 


INDEX 


361 


Humor  of  Lincoln :  14,  44 ;  Herndon 

on,  326 
Hunter,  E.  M.  T. :  25 ;  at  Hampton 

Roads,  28 
Hurst,  Charles  E. :  9 

ILLINOIS:  a  free  State,  3;  "black 
code"  of,  4;  slavery  question  in, 
7;  courts  of,  40;  prohibition  in, 
77 ;  Democratic  defeat  in,  99 ; 
political  map  of,  203;  gerry 
mandered  by  Democrats,  234; 
Republicans  of  criticised,  243 ; 
ultimatum  of,  244 ;  endorsed  Lin 
coln  for  President,  271 

Illinois  Central  Eailway :  43 ;  helps 
defeat  Lincoln,  235  note;  Lin 
coln's  case  against,  315  note 

Illinois  College:  6,  8 

Impending  Crisis,  by  Helper,  158 ; 
passages  from,  159  note 

' '  Irrepressible  conflict :  "  as  Park 
er  saw  it,  100;  Seward's  speech 
on,  239 ;  Herndon  on  Seward  's 
speech,  242 

JAYNE,  JULIA:  17 

Jayne,  William :  and  ' '  Peoria 
Truce, "  69 ;  report  of  Lincoln  's 
remarks,  171 

Jefferson,  Joseph :  11  note 

Judd,  Norman  B. :  revolt  of,  54 
note;  for  Trumbull,  70;  leaves 
Democrats,  90;  speech  in  conven 
tion  of  1858,  172;  asks  Lincoln 
for  funds,  237 ;  nominates  Lin 
coln  in  1860,  273 

KANSAS:  attempt  to  seize,  55;  out 
rage  upon,  79 ;  excitement  con 
cerning,  94;  Lincoln  on,  96; 
Herndon  predicts  slave  state, 
126;  again  in  trouble,  128; 
Douglas 's  fight  for,  145 ;  Lincoln 
speaks  in,  261 


Kansas-Nebraska  Bill:  54;  not 
Union-saving  measures,  65;  con 
test  over  in  Illinois  Legislature, 
70 ;  Lincoln  on  as  a  farce,  80 ; 
Parker  on,  138 

Know-Nothing  order:  beginnings 
of,  49;  nominates  Lincoln,  69; 
Lincoln  opposed  to,  81;  Koerner 
against,  89 ;  nominates  Fillmore, 
97;  in  1856,  100;  defeat  in  New 
England,  218 

Koerner,  Gustavo:  article  by,  89; 
in  1856,  99;  suspects  Douglas, 
132 ;  article  on  Douglas 's  mo 
tives,  146;  in  convention  of 
1858,  172;  and  Greeley-Douglas 
compact,  217;  meets  Mrs.  Lin 
coln  at  Alton,  227;  hears  debate, 
228;  in  Chicago  convention,  272 

LAMON,  W.  H. :  201  note;  buys 
Herndon  Mss.,  301;  Herndon  on 
his  biography,  306;  his  book  writ 
ten  by  Black,  307 

Lanphier,  C.  H. :  and  bogus  resolu 
tions,  63  note ;  telegram  to  Doug 
las,  247 

Lecompton :  convention  at,  128; 
fraudulent  constitution,  129; 
Douglas  speaks  against,  135; 
reason  for  Douglas  revolt  against, 
216 

Lee,  Robert  E. :  surrender  of,  288; 
on  secession,  339 ;  a  liegeman  of 
Virginia,  340 

Lincoln,  Abraham :  meets  Herndon, 
4;  early  reading  of,  5;  partner 
ship  wtih  Stuart,  6;  at  Speed's 
store,  9;  debate  with  Douglas, 
10;  as  a  politician,  11;  charac 
teristics  of,  12 ;  and  women,  13 ; 
writes  to  Speed,  15 ;  on  temper 
ance,  16;  and  S.  T.  Logan,  16; 
marriage  of,  17;  induces  Hern 
don  to  study  law,  18;  firm  of 


362 


LINCOLN  AND  HERNDON 


Lincoln  and  Herndon,  19;  as  a 
lawyer,  22;  nominated  for  Con 
gress,  23;  elected,  24;  religious 
views  of,  24;  and  Webster,  25; 
on  second  term,  26;  and  Ashmun 
amendment,  27;  letter  to  Hern 
don  about  Stephens,  28;  sup 
ports  Taylor,  30;  on  General 
Cass,  33 ;  campaigns  in  New  Eng 
land,  34;  meets  Seward,  35;  not 
candidate  for  re-election,  36;  and 
Wilmot  Proviso,  37;  as  an  office- 
seeker,  38 ;  immaturity  of,  39 ; 
with  Herndon  again,  40;  studies 
hard,  41;  office  habits,  42;  poor 
collector,  44;  buggy  anl  horse, 
45;  personality  of,  46;  eulogy  of 
Clay,  50;  study  of  slavery,  51; 
careless  of  local  affairs,  52 ; 
stirred  by  repeal  of  Missouri 
Compromise,  57;  inner  ordeal  of, 
58;  great  speech  of,  60;  debate 
at  Peoria,  63 ;  and  ' '  Peoria 
truce,"  69;  defeated  for  Senate, 
71 ;  and  Parker 's  Webster  ser 
mon,  72;  not  a  prohibitionist, 
77;  on  Kansas,  80;  a  man  with 
out  a  party,  81;  pushed  into  Ee- 
publican  party  by  Herndon,  93 ; 
fiery  Bloomington  speech,  95; 
dry  humor  at  "mass  meeting," 
97;  vote  for  Vice-president,  97; 
did  not  meet  Parker,  98;  an 
emancipationist,  114;  and  Dred 
Scott  case,  119;  "big  Eepublican 
pop-gun,"  123;  suspects  Doug 
las's  designs,  132;  will  not  fel 
lowship  Douglas,  149;  message 
from  Beecher,  152 ;  origin  of  fa 
mous  phrase  of,  155;  reads  Im 
pending  Crisis,  159;  thinking  out 
great  speech,  168;  reads  speech 
to  Herndon,  169;  conference  of 
friends,  170;  given  direct  nom 
ination,  172;  speech  of  accept 


ance,  173-6;  forces  against,  178; 
replies  to  Douglas,  181;  chal 
lenges  Douglas  to  debate,  184; 
charges  Douglas  with  conspiracy, 
188;  at  Beardstown,  189;  ora 
tory  of,  191-2;  at  Ottawa,  195; 
his  view  of  the  debates,  198;  in 
a  Hamlet  mood,  198;  "after 
larger  game,"  199;  questions  at 
Freeport,  199;  on  new  slave 
States,  200;  not  an  Abolitionist, 
208;  sensitive  to  ridicule,  211; 
on  negro  citizenship,  212;  de 
fends  Trumbull,  214;  and  Doug- 
las-Greeley  compact,  216;  happy 
over  Democratic  war,  224;  elo 
quence  of  at  Galesburg,  225;  at 
Quincy,  226 ;  speech  at  Alton, 
228;  and  Crittenden,  231;  de 
feated  for  Senate,  233;  mention 
ed  for  President,  235  note ;  a  na 
tional  figure,  236;  paid  own  ex 
penses,  237;  tries  lecturing,  238; 
saved  his  party,  244 ;  described  by 
Littlefield,  249;  reading  of,  254; 
"not  fit  for  President,"  255; 
"running  qualities"  of,  256;  on 
the  tariff,  256;  in  Ohio,  257;  in 
vited  to  New  York,  259 ;  in  Kan 
sas,  261;  speech  of  little  known, 
261;  on  John  Brown,  263;  at 
Cooper  Institute,  266;  and 
Beecher,  267;  as  a  reformer,  269; 
in  New  England,  270;  not  a  So 
cialist,  270  note;  "autobio 
graphy"  of,  270;  endorsed  for 
President,  271 ;  and  Delahay,  271 
note;  and  the  Chicago  conven 
tion,  272;  nominated,  274;  elect 
ed,  275;  dodges  office-seekers, 
277;  letter  to  Stephens,  277  note; 
farewell  to  friends,  277;  last  in 
terview  with  Herndon  in  office, 
278 ;  an  unknown  man,  280 ;  ' '  the 
tug  has  come,"  283;  visited  by 


INDEX 


363 


Herndon,  284;  and  Douglas,  285; 
opposition  to,  287;  death  of, 
288;  funeral,  289;  Herndon  lec 
tures  on,  290;  books  about,  293; 
never  orthodox,  302 ;  and  the 
church,  303;  literature  on,  311; 
on  life  of  Burke,  314;  qualities 
of,  316-18;  a  mystery  to  Hern 
don,  319;  ignorant  of  his  ances 
try,  320;  home  life  of,  322;  pen- 
portrait  of,  324;  his  face,  325; 
his  intellect,  326;  characteristics 
of,  327-29;  and  Ann  Eutledge, 
329  note;  temperament  of,  329; 
philosophy  of,  330;  spiritual 
growth  of,  331 ;  mystery  of  333 ; 
as  a  leader,  337;  his  reverent 
conservatism,  338;  his  supreme 
problem,  340;  difficult  task  of, 
342;  master  of  men,  342  note; 
patience  of,  343;  English  atti 
tude  toward,  345  note ;  greatness 
of  in  war  ordeal,  345;  humanity 
of,  347;  letter  to  mother  Bixby, 
348;  Gettysburg  address,  348; 
' '  a  Christ  in  miniature, ' '  350 ; 
a  mystic,  351;  the  man  beloved, 
352 

Lincoln,  Mary:  38;  ambitious,  58; 
opposes  Lincoln  for  Legislature, 
69;  at  Alton  debate,  227;  home 
life  of,  322;  death  of,  323;  ill 
treated  by  the  press,  323  note 

Lincoln,  Eobert  T.:  18,  25,  269 

Lincoln,  Thomas:  3;  defense  of  by 
Herndon,  295 

Littlefield,  J.  H. :  description  of 
Lincoln,  249-50 

Logan,  S.  T. :  10;  partnership  with 
Lincoln,  16;  ambitious,  19;  as  a 
lawyer,  22;  defeated  for  Con 
gress,  36 ;  on  the  circuit,  46 ;  in 
legislature,  70;  votes  for  Trum- 
bull,  71;  and  Lamon,  201  note 

Lovejoy,  Elijah:  8 


Love  joy,  Owen:  tries  to  capture 
Lincoln,  61;  and  Lincoln,  62; 
votes  for  Lincoln,  62;  debates 
with  Douglas,  69 ;  organizes  Abo 
litionists,  71;  at  Bloomington, 
99 ;  at  Ottawa,  194 ;  and  Lamon 's 
story,  201  note;  speaks  for  Lin 
coln,  231 

Lowell,  J.  R. :  34;  on  Buchanan, 
145  note;  on  secession,  281 

Lundy,  the  Quaker:  160 

MAINE  LAW:  in  Illinois,  77 

Mason,  J.  M. :  25 

Marx,  Carl:  270  note;  345  note 

Matteson,  Gov.  J.  A.:   70 

Meade,  General:  346  note 

Medill,  Joseph:  suspects  Douglas, 
147;  editorial  by,  244 

Melancholy  of  Lincoln:  12,  13,  29; 
on  the  circuit,  46;  over  the  na 
tion,  51;  before  nomination  for 
Senate,  168;  on  eve  of  debates, 
185;  on  leaving  Springfield,  278; 
causes  of,  328 

Meredith,  George:  The  Shaving  of 
Shagpat,  269 

Missouri  Compromise:  repeal  of, 
53;  and  a  game  of  whist,  54; 
should  be  restored,  67,  89;  and 
Dred  Scott  case,  109 

Missouri  Democrat :  114,  272 

Mysticism  of  Lincoln:  12,  15,  29; 
Stephens  on,  341;  in  leadership 
of,  351;  study  of,  351  note 

NEGROES  :  human  rights  of,  66 ;  no 
equality  with,  120;  rights  of, 
212;  not  to  be  citizens,  213 

North:  and  repeal  of  Missouri 
Compromise,  55;  and  Dred  Scott 
case,  109;  and  John  Brown,  260; 
unlike  South,  340;  divided  and 
dismayed,  343 


364 


Nicolay,  J.  G. :  276;  and  John  Hay, 
317;  on  Lincoln,  318 

OGLESBY,  EICHAKD  J. :  46 ;  speaks 
for  Lincoln,  231 

Oratory:  Lincoln  on,  41;  of  Lin 
coln,  60,  191;  of  Beecher,  83; 
of  Douglas,  130,  190;  of  Hern- 
don,  187;  Lincoln  as  model  of, 
255;  temperament  in,  329 

Orendorff,  Alfred:  303;  death  of, 
303  note 

Ottawa :  debate  at,  63  note ;  the 
crowds,  193;  Douglas's  speech, 
194;  Lincoln's  reply,  195;  Hern- 
don  on,  196;  ovation  to  Lincoln, 
211 

Owens,  Mary:  13 

PALMER,  J.  M. :  on  the  circuit,  46 ; 
revolt  of,  54  note;  for  Trumbull, 
70;  leaves  Democratic  party,  90; 
speaks  for  Lincoln,  231 

Parker,  Theodore:  Herndou  writes 
to,  51;  on  Webster,  72;  and  the 
Nebraska  Bill,  72 ;  activity  of 
as  agitator,  73 ;  and  fugitive 
slave  law,  73 ;  and  Herndon  cor- 
spondence,  73 ;  and  Herndon  cor 
respondence,  75;  "trial"  of,  78; 
on  Beecher,  84;  tireless  worker, 
90;  in  Springfield,  98;  in  cam 
paign  of  1856,  100 ;  as  a  prophet, 
101;  on  Dred  Scott  case,  124; 
and  Lincoln,  124;  on  Doug 
las,  138 ;  on  motives  of  Doug 
las,  139 ;  and  John  Brown,  140 ; 
in  Music  Hall,  154;  his  famous 
phrase  used  by  Lincoln,  155 ; 
Herndon 's  impressions  of,  157; 
review  of  Beecher 's  book,  162; 
flays  Greeley,  201;  thought 
Douglas  won  at  Ottawa,  208;  on 
Greeley-Douglas  compact,  217; 
illness  of,  232 ;  on  election  of 


Douglas,  239;  turns  from  Sew- 
ard  to  Lincoln,  240;  last  note 
to  Herndon,  248;  experiences  of 
as  a  minister,  248 ;  in  Cuba,  Lon 
don,  and  Italy,  249;  last  letter 
from  Herndon,  264 
Peoria :  debate  at,  63 ;  "  truce ' '  of, 
68  note 

Phillips,  I.  N. :  on  Lincoln's  Bloom- 
ington  speech,  96  note;  letter 
from  Senator  Harlan,  346  note 

Phillips,  Wendell:  51;  and  fugitive 
slave,  74;  and  Douglas,  133;  on 
John  Brown,  265;  not  a  states 
man,  337  note 

Pierce,  Franklin :  49 ;  and  Kansas, 
79;  Parker  on,  239 

Pioneers :  of  Illinois,  3 ;  Herndon 
lectures  on,  295-98;  not  gloomy, 
316 

Polk,  J.  K.:  and  Mexican  war,  26; 
and  Lincoln,  27,  33;  Von  Hoist 
on,  26  note 

"Popular  Sovereignty:"  48;  and 
Douglas,  54;  and  Leeompton 
fraud,  131 ;  killed  by  Drod  Scott 
case,  183 ;  inconsistency  of  Doug 
las  on,  207;  Lincoln  ridicules, 
211 

Preachers:  oppose  Douglas,  56;  and 
Prohibition,  77;  Douglas's  war 
on,  206;  oppose  Lincoln,  276 

Prentice,  George  D. :   114 

Prohibition :  Herndon 's  activity 
for,  75;  campaign  for,  77;  Ger 
mans  kill  it  in  Illinois,  77 

Pugh,  Senator,  of  Ohio:  134,  162 

QUINCY:  debate  at,  226 

EANKIN,  H.  B. :  in  Lincoln  and 
Herndon  office,  253;  hears  Lin 
coln's  farewell  speech,  336  note 

Ray,  C.  H. :  88,  199 


INDEX 


365 


Reconstruction:  Lincoln 's  plan  of, 
349  note 

Reed,  Rev.  J.  A.:  lecture  of  Lin 
coln's  religion,  301 

Religion  of  Lincoln:  24;  Rev.  Reed 
on,  301;  Herndon,  302;  in  his 
character,  350 

Republican,  The  Daily:  Herndon 's 
editorials  in,  118,  121 

Republican  party:  55;  beginnings 
of,  80;  Lincoln  not  of  fast  lead 
ers,  81 ;  Herndon  in  organization 
of,  82 ;  Koerner  on,  89 ;  Lincoln 
pushed  into  by  Herndon,  93 ; 
and  Lincoln 's  Bloomington 
speech,  96;  angry  at  Douglas, 
117;  growth  of  in  Illinois,  125; 
courted  by  Douglas,  136 ;  of 
fends  Douglas,  145;  and  Greeley, 
146 ;  Douglas  tries  to  divide,  148 ; 
Greeley  thinks  ideal  too  high, 
153;  charge  of  sectionalism,  159; 
convention  of  in  1858,  172 ;  effort 
to  lower  ideal  of,  215;  its  course 
in  Illinois  explained,  217;  and 
Greeley,  219;  defended  by  Lin 
coln,  227;  fight  of  in  Illinois, 
244;  well-drilled,  246;  and  John 
Brown,  260 ;  convention  of  in 
Chicago,  271;  victory  of,  275 

Rhett,  R.  B.:   25 

Richardson,  W.  A. :  90,  120 

Rutledge,  Ann :  5,  13 ;  memory  of, 
277;  Herndon 's  Lecture  on,  295; 
shadow  of,  328,  329  note 

SANBORN,  F.  B. :  and  John  Brown, 

259  note,  261  note 
Schurz,  Carl:  226,  231 
Scripps,  J.  L.:  96,  178,  280,  320 
Secession :  Lincoln  on,  263 ;  Lowell 

on,     281;      Sherman     on,     281; 

Greeley   on,   281;    sweeps   South, 

281;    Parker    on,    337    note;    in 

North,  339 


Seward,  W.  II. :  28 ;  meets  Lincoln, 
35;  on  Douglas,  146;  Herndon 
visits,  151;  "irrepressible  con 
flict"  speech,  174  note;  Douglas 
for,  216;  Herndon  on,  242; 
forces  of  led  by  Weed,  272;  and 
Lincoln,  273 ;  defeated  for  nom 
ination,  274;  speaking  tour  of, 
275 ;  mistake  of,  342  note 

Shakespeare:  study  of  by  Lincoln, 
41,  198,  250 

Sherman,  John:  158-9 

Sherman,  W.  T.:  281,  287 

Shields,  J. :  17;  for  Senate,  59;  and 
Douglas,  70;  story  of  duel,  152 

Slave  Power :  43 ;  wanted  Mexico, 
85;  and  Dred  Scott  case,  109; 
fraud  of  in  Kansas,  128;  and 
Central  America,  142;  Douglas 
fights,  148;  land  lust  of,  202; 
last  effort  to  scare  North,  283; 
used  dualism  of  nation,  339 

Slavery :  in  Illinois,  3 ;  agitation  of, 
7;  in  District  of  Columbia,  37; 
change  of  sentiment  concerning, 
48 ;  like  a  snake,  49 ;  study  of  by 
Lincoln,  51 ;  Lincoln  puzzled  by, 
64-5 ;  Douglas  indifferent  to,  132, 
149  note;  and  the  Union,  168; 
insolence  of,  169 ;  in  new  States, 
200;  destroyed,  349 

Slaves:  15,  35,  73;  Douglas  did  not 
own,  149  note;  as  property,  226; 
insurrection  of,  260 

Slidell,  Senator:  225 

Smith,  Gerritt:   140,  261 

South,  the:  Lincoln's  attitude  to 
ward,  64,  65,  67;  and  Kansas, 
79;  secret  hatred  of  slavery  in, 

•  81,  85,  340;  love  of  by  Herndon, 
86;  and  Douglas,  134;  Impend 
ing  Crisis  of,  158 ;  population  of, 
158;  originally  anti-slavery,  158 
note ;  and  ' '  Freeport  doctrine, ' ' 
200;  and  John  Brown,  260; 


366 


LINCOLN  AND  HEENDON 


swept  by  secession,  281;  did  not 
know  Lincoln,  335,  349  note;  its 
views  of  Constitution,  339;  sin 
cerity  of,  339  note;  unlike  the 
North,  340 

Speed,  Joshua:  6,  9,  15,  16,  79 

Speed,  Mary:   15 

Stephens,  A.  H. :  25,  28 ;  at  Hamp 
ton  Roads,  28 ;  memories  of  Lin 
coln,  29;  and  Whig  club,  35; 
letter  to  Lincoln,  277  note;  A 
Constitutional  View  of  tlie  War, 
339  note ;  on  Lincoln 's  mysticism, 
341 

Stetson,  F.  L.:   68 

Stowe,   H.  B. :   48 

Stuart,  J.  T. :  6 ;  partner  of  Lin 
coln,  11,  14;  warns  Lincoln,  50; 
rebukes  Herndon,  93 

Sturtevant,  Julian,  8  note 

Sumner,  Charles:  47,  51;  Herndon 
on,  83;  on  Kansas,  94;  assaulted, 
94;  re-election  of,  103;  and 
Douglas,  148;  gets  pension  for 
Mrs.  Lincoln,  323  note 

Supreme  Court :  and  Dred  Scott 
case,  109;  Herndon  on,  110,  112; 
Lincoln  on,  120;  in  Lincoln- 
Douglas  debates,  195 

Swett,  Leonard:  46,  177,  317 

TAFT,  W.  H.:   328 

Taney,  Judge:  and  Dred  Scott 
case,  109;  and  Douglas,  117,  183; 
his  death,  175  note;  swears  Lin 
coln  into  office,  285 

Taylor,    Zachary:    29 

Territories:  a  national  trust,  64; 
slavery  not  to  be  extended  into, 
66 

Tolstoi:  349 

Toombs,  Eobert:  25,  35;  his  BUI 
on  Kansas,  138,  214 

Townsend,  George  Alfred:  299 

Trumbull,   Lyman:    70,   71;    Hern 


don    on,    76;    and    Kansas,    94; 

' '  big  Republican  pop-gun, ' '  123 ; 
Herndon  visits,  151;  for  Presi 
dent,  173  note;  Douglas  attacks, 
194;  speech  on  Toombs  Bill,  197; 
links  Douglas  and  Toombs,  207; 
Lincoln  defends,  214;  and  Doug- 
las-Greeley  compact,  216;  letter 
from  Herndon,  284 
Twain,  Mark:  352 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin:  48 

Union,  the:  in  danger,  67;  disturb 
ed  over  Kansas,  79 ;  and  Dred 
Scott  case,  109 ;  and  slavery, 
168;  and  new  slave  states,  200; 
Lincoln  on,  2G3;  broken  by  so 
cession,  281 ;  and  Lincoln  and 
Douglas,  285;  dualism  of,  338; 
Lincoln's  problem,  341 

VAN  BUEEN,  MARTIN:  32,  35 
Virginia :    attitude   toward   slavery 

and   secession,   48    note:    Lee  a 

liegeman  of,  340 

WALKER,  R.  J. :  129  note,  139 

Ward,  Artemeus:  277 

War:  Black  Hawk,  6;  Lincoln's 
part  in,  33 ;  with  Mexico,  25 ; 
Parker  predicts  between  the 
States,  138;  Herndon  on,  141; 
Douglas's  vision  of,  285  note; 
comes  at  last,  345;  great  battles 
of,  348 

Washburne,  E.  B. :  70,  71,  177,  199 ; 
Lincoln  writes  to,  283 ;  at  Ap- 
pomattox,  349  note 

Watterson,  Henry:  29  note;  at  in 
augural  of  Lincoln,  285 ;  bio 
graphy  of  Lincoln,  311  note;  tri 
bute  to  Douglas,  342  note 

Webster,  Daniel:  25,  47;  complains 
of  South,  48;  and  Lincoln's  ora 
tory,  61 ;  and  Douglas,  63 ;  Park- 


INDEX 


367 


er  on,  72 ;  model  for  Lincoln,  173 ; 
and  Cooper  Institute  address,  268 
note 

Weed,   Thurlow:    36;    on   Helper's 
book,  159 ;  in  compact  with  Doug 
las,  215;  and  Chicago  convention, 
271;  Seward's  leader,  272 
Weiss,  John:    75,  148  note 
Weik,   J.    W. :    35   note,    97    note; 
owns    Lincoln    scrap-book,    177 ; 
and  Herndon,  304-5 
Wentworth,  John:   90,  93,  99 
Whig  party:    24,  25;    evades  slav 
ery   issue,  30;   Taylor  candidate 
of,  32;  goes  to  pieces,  37;   Lin 


coln  clings  to,  67;  unites  with 
Kepublicans,  221 

Whitman,  Walt:  254,  352 

Whitney,  W.  C.:  45  note,  96  note, 
272  note,  315 

White,  Horace:  56,  61;  on  "Peoria 
truce,"  68;  on  Charleston  de 
bate,  214  note;  on  Cooper  Insti 
tute  address,  286  note;  and  Hern 
don  biography,  304,  308,  321 

Wilson,  Henry:  148,  222,  281 

YATES,  KICHARD:  99,  223,  278 

ZANE,  CHABLES  S.:  251,  274,  300, 
303 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY— TEL.  NO.  642-3405 
This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


•- 
- 


LD21A-60m-6,'69 
(J9096slO)476-A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


467 

^ 

«NK( 
226204 

:<;'.»*  ****•• 


Ill 


™^ 


